the most anticipated...

[crippled_avenger]

Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg's follow up to last year's History of Violence, Eastern Promises, doesn't disappoint. Viggo Mortensen delivers another extraordinarily powerful performance as the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai, tied to one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna, [Naomi Watts] an innocent midwife trying to right a wrong, who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. Now Nikolai must put into motion a harrowing chain of murder, deceit. Cronenberg has evolved as one of the world's most interesting artists, a fact in evidence when one sees this latest, masterful work. A film that dispassionately and brutally explores the dichotomy of Russian gangsterism in contemporary London, the joy in watching a Cronenberg film is knowing that as his careful narrative unfolds, all is not what it seems. Multi layered and deliberately paced as it builds to a powerful crescendo, the film's haunting score, and the film's visual look, all help make Eastern Promises an unforgettable, riveting masterpiece. As with History of Violence, he elicits another tour-de-force performance by Mortensen, who completely envelops his Russian low-level mobster, Nikolai. A lot is going on in this remarkable actor's body and soul, resulting in one of the year's most stunning performance. As for Naomi Watts, the actress further demonstrates a commanding depth and presence, further proving why she remains one of the most dynamic and diverse actors of her generation. Here, she is wonderful. The film's other strong actors, including superb work by French actor Vincent Cassel, all result in the creation of a work that is brutal, intelligent, compelling and total Cronenberg.

[crippled_avenger]

Author Whitley Strieber has revealed on his official site that Wolfgang Petersen ("Troy," "The Perfect Storm") will direct the film adaptation of his sci-fi novel "The Grays" for Sony Pictures.

In his novel a triumvirate of Grays, known as the Three Thieves, has occupied a small Kentucky town for decades - abducting its residents and manipulating fates and bloodlines in hopes of creating an ultra-intelligent human being.

Nine-year-old Conner Callahan will face the ultimate terror as he struggles to understand who he has been bred to be and what he must do to save humanity.

Shooting is scheduled to begin pre-strike for a Summer 2009 release.

[crippled_avenger]

After months of negotiations, New Line Cinema has picked up the English-language remake rights to the Spanish-language thriller "The Orphanage" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The directorial debut of Juan Antonio Bayona and produced by Guillermo del Toro, "Orphanage" is written by Sergio Sanchez and revolves around a woman who returns to the orphanage where she grew up with the intention of opening a home for handicapped children.

Her son makes an invisible friend, who turns out to be the same "friend" that terrorized the woman when she was a child. Del Toro will serve as producer on the English-language version and the studio is out to filmmakers to adapt the movie.

The original will be released October 11th in Spain and December 28th in the US.

[crippled_avenger]

Australia is about to become a busy place for filming on various superhero projects.

First up, The X-Verse reports that 20th Century Fox is preparing "Wolverine" for a November start of shooting with Hugh Jackman returning as the title character. Whilst the previous three "X-Men" films have been shot in Vancouver, the new spin-off will be shot in Sydney, Australia. Gavin Hood ("Rendition," "Tsotsi") will helm from a script by David Benioff.

Then, Obsessed with Film received the following scoop: "The studio [Warner Bros.] has greenlit 'Justice League' as their Summer 2009 tentpole. Filming for the principals will take place in Sydney from February to June 2008 - George Miller was unsurprisingly listed as director in the info we got. Auditions are starting up down under with Nikki Barrett (Baz Luhrmann's Australia, The Proposition) hired to handle the casting in Australia. Ronna Kress (Beowulf, The Mummy 3) will oversee the entire casting process. Oscar-winner Barrie M. Osborne (The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix) will take on producing duties; he'll be joined by Miller's partner Doug Mitchell." There's also more potential plot spoilers now available at IESB.Net.

[crippled_avenger]

ZOO

ZOO, directed by Robinson Devor, is a movie you might've heard of when it played Sundance last January. For some reason it had a very limited theatrical run, it was not really given the same chance a SPIDER-MAN or a SHREK would get to catch on with the public, but fortunately THINKFilm releases the DVD September 18th.

I really liked Devor's first movie THE WOMAN CHASER. That one, COCKFIGHTER and MIAMI BLUES are the only movie adaptations of my favorite writer, Charles Willeford. Patrick Warburton is so good playing a bored used car salesman turned desperate embezzler/nihilistic independent filmmaker that I have a hard time not picturing him as the lead in other Willeford books as I'm reading them. I can't recommend that movie enough, but unfortunately it's never been released on DVD, and good luck finding the VHS.

What I didn't know when I saw that one was that the director was somewhat local. He apparently splits his time between L.A. and Seattle, where with local writer Charles Mudede he filmed his second and third movies, POLICE BEAT and now ZOO. Based on a true incident in the small town of Enumclaw, ZOO is mostly set in the outlying rural areas of the Puget Sound region, the camera floating dreamily through barren farms, glimmery blackberry bushes and beneath ominous cloudy skies. But the central character, called "Mr. Hands," works as an engineer for Boeing, so there is some footage of him on a balcony looking out on Seattle proper, the home of John Wayne's McQ, Bruce Lee's grave, me, and I guess Frasier. The cinematography by a guy named Sean Kirby is excellent, and he shows Seattle not as a postcard of the Space Needle, but as a menacing explosion of buildings springing from the earth between water and mountains. This is my Seattle, this is how the city should be shown.

Oh-- except for one thing. I forgot to mention. (SPOILER.) This is a movie about horsefuckers. Or I guess horsefuckees, if you want to get technical. The plight of the horsefucked. Requiem For a Guy Fucked To Death By a Horse, pardon my French. I'm trying to be a gentleman here but if there's a polite way to say "fucked to death by a horse" they never taught me that one in school.

You know, when a daddy and a special horse love each other very much-- No, sorry, I just don't know how to do it.

So in that sense, no, it is not the most positive portrayal of the region. Speaking for myself only I would say that the guy getting fucked to death by the horse was not one of the prouder moments in local history. Your mileage may vary. I don't know what the governor's stance is on it or anything but that's just me, I'm against horsefucking.

You know how they have those different quarter designs they're doing for each of the 50 states? I thought it would've been pretty badass if Washington State had had the balls to put Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix on our quarter. It would've been EASILY the coolest quarter and all the other states would've been jealous. Instead we just did a picture of a fish jumping out of water, which kind of bummed me out. But in retrospect I should be happy we didn't go with a guy being fucked to death by a horse. That would've been an embarrassing quarter.

Anyway, maybe they should've lied and set ZOO in Chicago or San Diego or somewhere. I've lived in Seattle for years and the only horses I've seen were ridden by cops. I have never ONCE seen a horsefucker. So don't get the wrong idea. This is not representative of Seattle. It's all on Enumclaw. Horsefucking capital of the west.

ZOO is an unusual centaur type hybrid of documentary and re-enactment. The entire movie is narrated by audio interviews of the actual people involved in the incident, the horsefucked as well as the horse rescuer who was called in to figure out what the hell to do with a horse that fucked a guy to death. She loves horses too, but in a platonic way. There was another recent documentary narrated by tapes of Kurt Cobain, but they had to do that because he died. In this case they had to do it because nobody's gonna invite cameras to follow them around talking about having sex with animals. Well, probaly for a VH-1 reality show but not for an independent film.

The filmatists cleverly avoid going in the obvious directions. It's not really a freak show or a shockumentary. They even tastefully avoid the goldmine of uncomfortable black humor that faces, say, the hospital workers who have to slowly piece together why this patient has a perforated colon and why the guy who brought him there took off in such a hurry. I read an interview with Mudede click where he mentions some pretty funny things that were left out of the movie, such as the horsefuckers talking about rejecting a potential new horsefucker because he was "a total freak," and also them complaining about the low quality of their home farm sex videos. So there is some real restraint here. Anybody can make jokes about horsefucking (see: this review) so it's actually more shocking for the filmatists to go the other way. I honestly think they're trying to get a rise out of you by being tasteful.

Like anybody (I hope), when I heard this story I could not even imagine what the hell kind of person does that shit. It's hard to even picture them as human beings, let alone regular people you might encounter in your daily life. Some weird scary Michael Berryman looking redneck out there in Enumclaw, maybe. But the movie depicts Mr. Hands, the dead guy, as a city boy. He's a successful engineer in Seattle, the re-enactor is fairly handsome and usually shown wearing a tie. He's divorced, but has stayed close with his ex-wife and is very proud of his son. In fact, he's trying to bring the family together, and his ex-wife and kid are in town visiting at the time of his death. Which is pretty befuddling - he's entertaining guests but he finds time to slip over to Enumclaw for a poke from the ol' giant animal schlong? It's weird how the more details you fill in the more mysterious it becomes.

But the animal molesters are humanized, and the photography even makes them kind of glamorous. The camera slowly pans around, focusing on the poetic imagery of the setting, often shrouding their faces in shadow like characters in a film noir. They meet at a diner and go by their internet handles like "H" and "The Happy Horseman." They could almost be RESERVOIR DOGS, except their crime is a little less understood by society than stealing diamonds and shooting people. They point out that bestiality was not a crime in the state of Washington until after this incident. I think they saw that more as progressive legislation than as an "oh come on, nobody's gonna do that" type loophole. They just see themselves as a bunch of guys who like to hang out together on a farm, make some drinks, talk about their lives, and then maybe on a good night go out and, uh, let the livestock mount them.

It's so non-judgmental, in fact, that one guy, "Coyote," was willing to play himself in the re-enactments. (The horse rescuer and some of the other non-animalfuckers do the same.)

I'm not sure if I can say I LIKED this movie, but I thought it was very well made and morbidly fascinating. I thought there were only two real fuckups, really. At one dramatic point in the movie they suddenly cut to a dude sitting on a stool in front of a white background, telling a story directly into the camera. You think "Holy shit, is this one of the actual guys? Who is this guy? Why is he willing to be on camera?" He turns out to be the actor who plays "Cop #1" in the movie, and he talks about getting the part and then tells an unrelated story about seeing a kid die. I appreciate trying out a weird idea like that, but it doesn't work, they should've cut it. Worse is a short burst of pretentiousness at the end of the movie where they throw in some quick shots of explosions and some guy whispering about math as Mr. Hands wanders naked into the horse field. That's kind of the pretentious bullshit I expected when I read reviews of how "poetic" this movie is, but really that was the only part where it was too much for me. (I even liked the opening psychedelic light show that turns out to be somebody's flashlight or something.)

You ever see that Onion article about Marilyn Manson going door-to-door trying to shock people? That's sometimes how I feel about Charles Mudede, who is credited with "story and research" for ZOO. Mudede has written for The Stranger (the less corporate of Seattle's two free weekly tabloids) since 1999, where he reviews movies and does the Police Beat column that inspired his movie of the same name. I've read a few pieces I really liked by him, but alot more that I hated. His main interest seems to be to provoke people by coming up with some completely preposterous angle on the subject that would never occur to any other human being. In his reviews he makes any legitimate insights useless by tying them to some historical, philosophical or literary context seemingly picked out of a hat or by rolling Dungeons and Dragons dice. In movie reviews you never have to agree with the reviewer, but you probaly do have to see where they're coming from. If we can understand horsefuckers in a movie we should be able to understand the writer of a review. When friends of mine first started noticing and complaining about Mudede I honestly believed that his reviews were a put-on, that they could not possibly be serious. His thoughts on almost any topic would somehow be related to the traditions of ancient societies, a line from the communist manifesto, Russian literature or some other topic he studied in college.

Take for example his review of Takeshi Kitano's BROTHER click , where he dismisses it as "Kitano's weakest film yet," then launches into what appears to be a comical parody of New York film critic jerkoffery: "The next gem worth noting is the matter of Kitano's Hegelianism. Hegel was a 19th-century German philosopher who believed that human history had basically three stages: primitive (African societies), despotic (Asian societies), and democratic (Europe). BROTHER presents this order of history, but now in the form of a gangster class order..." etc. etc.

Over the years Mudede has toned down some of those "hey everybody, look at me!" tendencies. But that doesn't stop him from semi-regular reviews like this one, where he pretends to find meaning in BRATZ click .

It can't be denied that ZOO is in some ways an extension of that kind of obnoxious college-professor-meets-Tom-Green approach to expression. What could be more "you gotta be shitting me" than a movie that hints at being pro-bestiality from behind the hypnotic drone of a haunting arthouse documentary? Fortunately, the movie is put together really well and there is a bit of a switch up near the end, where we move from the perspective of the horsefucked to that of the horse rescuer. When she shows up at the ranch with the dead man's brother she describes meeting one of our narrators who was "very obviously deeply involved" and who she saw as a "creepy child molester type." Then we hear the guy she's talking about bitterly complain that the rescuer "doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to horses." (oh for God's sake, use the hole in the ground this time. Please, horsey, fuck the hole in the ground.) But it's kind of a relief to be violently yanked from the lull of the poetical horse lovers POV and back into the world of the poor suckers who had to suddenly find out what had been going on on this ranch. (One scene depicts the grey-haired owners of the horse throwing up after sitting with police watching a video of the incident.) And I'm sure audiences must've gasped when the miniature pony ran in and... well, you'll have to see it.

What is the value of exploring the guy who was fucked to death by a horse? I'm not sure. It is probaly more of an, uh, interesting story than an important one. They show how the internet brought together a community of freakos that never could've existed in the old days. Reminds me of the time I accidentally found out about adults who wear diapers and pretend to be babies. Or the guy that gets off on photoshopping the gals that dress up as Pocahontas and Cinderella at Disneyland to make them look giant. I don't care if you like to make out with lobsters or suck on jump ropes, whatever sicko garbage gets you hard you can make a club for it on the internet. For these guys it's all those popular sex with cattle blogs that brought them together. And once they are no longer alone in their secret shame, but are part of a secret shame club on Yahoo, they start getting big ideas. I don't think they ever specifically mention gay rights, but they try to paint their plight as similar. They argue that they have a pure, simple, primal love with these animals, one that we who have chosen to keep our assholes free of horsecock cannot possibly understand.

(Incidentally that reminds me, shoulda mentioned this earlier but no kids should be reading this review. Go to bed kids this is grownup talk.)

So it brings to mind that old anti-gay rights argument "if you allow people of the same sex to get married then some dude will want to marry his dog/horse/box turtle." I always thought this was a funny comparison. Number one, two men - let's say Dolph Lundgren's character in BLACKJACK and his faithful assistant - happen to be of the same species, and they can communicate with each other. That is not true of the fictional guy (we'll call him "Turner") that is gonna make an honest woman out of his dog ("Hooch"). Number two, you REALLY honestly think some guy is gonna try to marry his dog? Or, say, a gorilla who knows sign language, if society demands that they must be able to communicate? He's gonna bring his ape into the courthouse and apply for a marriage license? This, in your mind, is a likely scenario? Well, okay then dude. How bout we cross that bridge when we come to it?

I am tempted to delete that last paragraph just to avoid the worst talkback of all time, but that would be dishonest. This is definitely a topic the movie directs you toward. I'm guessing at least 60-70% of you are with me, and are against horsefucking. But the movie forces you to ask yourself why, question your instincts. Which is uncomfortable but it's not a bad thing.

And one conclusion I came to is that, despite what they say in the movie, these guys don't really believe they made a soulful love connection with these animals. They just like to have giant horsecocks in their butts. The reason I know this: they literally have buckets full of homemade bestiality videos. You even (horrifyingly) see a tiny glimpse of what I assume is the real video of the fateful incident. And we're not talking Andrew Blake here. We're not even talking One Night In Paris. They just shine a light on a guy's ass and do a closeup as he's being slain by a giant horse dick. They are not in love, they get off on it, they like watching it, they know other guys who will watch it on the internet. That is not a mature relationship there, fellas. Blackjack would never do that. So their argument is pretty phony, it's a rationalization. In my opinion.

That was pretty brave, wasn't it, how I took a stance against horsefucking just now. That's just what I do man I make the tough calls.

One diabolical thing they do in the movie, they play some talk radio clips over some of the footage, and one of the clips is of Rush Limbaugh disagreeing with the animal rights activists who said the horse didn't consent. So Limbaugh becomes the voice of the pro-horsefucking movement. I think they should use that in the advertising and turn it into a political issue:

"No matter which side you are on, you gotta see ZOO for yourself. It's the movie everyone is talking about. See it for yourself and make up your own mind on being fucked by a horse!"

ZOO is about the furthest thing from what you imagined when you first heard about this incident. It shows the whole thing from a completely fresh angle. But there is one thing I thought when I first heard the news story that this movie only reinforced: I am not going within ten miles of any horse, ever. Get the fucking things away from me. I don't care if it's Seabiscuit or Mr. Ed or a heroic horse who saved orphans and piloted the first manned (or horsed) mission to Mars. I don't even care if it's a girl horse or a eunuch horse. All horses are bad news. I might even stay away from glue and dog food for a while.

If any horses are reading this: NO means NO.

I'm scared,

Vern

[crippled_avenger]

Ian McShane confirms to Empire Online that Paul W.S. Anderson's "Death Race" remake at Universal Pictures is a prison film.

"This is even more violent. This is set in the future, it's like NASCAR to the death inside prison. On TV. And I play the guy who runs the race, coaches the racers, from inside prison. It's a lot of fun." says McShane.

Roger Corman's 1975 classic, "Death Race 2000," featured a cross-country car race of the future in which pedestrians were run down for points. The rmake takes place in the year 2020, and stars Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson and Joan Allen. It hits cinemas next September.

[crippled_avenger]

PARIS -- Catherine Breillat is writing the script for a film based on her recently published novel "Bad Love."

Starring supermodel Naomi Campbell, the film is set to start shooting during the first semester of 2008, first in Toronto, then moving to Paris for the rest of production.

The movie is produced by Jean-Francois Lepetit's Flach Film, the company behind "An Old Mistress," Breillat's controversial period drama that screened In Competition at the Festival de Cannes in May.

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Fight Club" stars Edward Norton and Brad Pitt are reuniting to star in Universal Pictures political thriller "State of Play" reports Variety.

A feature film adaptation of the acclaimed 2003 British mini-series, Norton will play a congressman whose speedy political rise is threatened by an investigation into the death of his mistress.

Pitt plays a politician-turned-journalist whose relationship with the solon is compromised when he oversees his newspaper's investigation into the murder and develops a relationship with the pol's estranged wife.

Matthew Michael Carnahan adapted the original six-hour mini-series into a two-hour script with "Bourne" writer Tony Gilroy doing a rewrite. Kevin Macdonald ("The Last King of Scotland," "Touching the Void") is directing.

No word as yet if any of the original stars like Bill Nighy, John Simm, James McAvoy, David Morrissey or Polly Walker will appear either in cameo or their original roles.

[crippled_avenger]

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here.

Well, well, well...

This one had dropped off my radar a bit, but it looks like there's finally some real forward motion on the new Warner Bros. big-screen adaptation of the '60s TV series, KUNG-FU.

The first bit of news is that there appears to be a director for the film now. I can't find any reference to this guy's connection to the film anywhere online, so I think this may be a scoop. It looks like Max Makowski, director of the Singapore film ONE LAST DANCE, may be onboard now to direct this one. We've had a few reviews for ONE LAST DANCE here on the site, and it seems to be generally well-liked, an action film that delivers.

So is Makowski the right guy for this? I know he was associated with a big-studio version of SHINOBI, too, but that appears to have gone nowhere in development so far. With them throwing this out to casting directors now, I'm guessing this is going to be a pre-strike project for Legendary/Warner, and we may start hearing more news about this soon. It looks to start production in China in March.

For now, they're searching for "Caine, Male, 20-35. A handsome mix of East (Chinese/Asian) meets West (American). A man with the emotional capacity of a young Clint Eastwood. Charismatic and charming, Caine was raised by Shaolin monks after his mother's murder and became a highly skilled fighter. In addition to being a strong actor with the right look, the actor for this role should be athletic and although not required, some martial arts training, gymnastics or ballet are a plus."

What's also interesting is that we now have an idea of what story the film will be telling.

"During the 1880's, a half-Chinese Shaolin Monk roams America's western frontier in search of his American Father, but winds up incarcerated in an exceptionally harsh prison where he must use his martial arts skills to survive."

I've talked with some of the people developing this film at Legendary, and it sounds to me like the intention is to make something genuinely good and gritty and different. As with any remake, there's certainly potential there, and the fact that it's not "just" an origin story is encouraging.

We'll have more on this one as it develops, and all thanks as always to my unnamed source.

[crippled_avenger]

Studios and Production Companies set their pre-strike priorities
By EdwardHavens
September 13th, 2007

You may or may not have heard that there is a distinct possibility that the Writers Guild, the Directors Guild AND the Screen Actors Guild will all be striking next spring, if negotiations with the Producers Guild do not get settled between now and then. With the chance that they might go months without any new productions, everyone in Hollywood is making sure their pet projects are getting set up before the hurricane hits.



A list starting circulating around the talent agencies two weeks ago, listing the 300 projects in active development which have become pre-strike priorities for the major studios and a number of top production companies. This list does not mean all of these projects will be completed before the strike date or that they will come together in time. A few titles have already started shooting, some others have set production start dates, and a couple will likely end up on somebody's Best Films Never Made list a few years down the road.

You'll also notice certain directors have their names attached to two or more projects, while a number of them have no director attached. Hell, even Hollywood pariah David O. Russell is getting a bump thanks to the strike threat. Just that these are the films these companies are putting their muscle behind, hoping to keep their distribution pipeline open and flowing in case of a work stoppage.

As of August 29, 2007, there are the main priorities for Hollywood, in case of emergency:

2929 Entertainment
BURNING PLAIN - Dir: Guillermo Arriaga
VILLAIN - Dir: Martin Campbell

BALDWIN
ATLAS SHRUGGED - Dir: Vadim Perelman
INDISCRETION - Dir: Tony Goldwyn
LUNA - Dir: Deepa Mehta

BEACON
CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN - Dir: Kip Williams

DISNEY
ADVENTURELAND - Dir: Greg Mottola
ALICE - Dir: None attached
AMERICAN DOG (animated) - Dir: Chris Sanders
BEDTIME STORIES - Dir: Adam Shankman
BOY SOLDIER - Dir: Oliver Higschbiegel
A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Dir: Robert Zemeckis
CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC - Dir: PJ Hogan
DOUBT - Dir: John Patrick Shanley
ESCAPE FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN - Dir: Andy Fickman
G-FORCE (animated) - Dir: Hoyt Yeatman
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 - Dir: Kenny Ortega
JUNGLE CRUISE - Dir: None attached
LIBERTY - Dir: None attached
PRINCE OF PERSIA - Dir: None attached
PRINCESS AND THE FROG (animated) - Dir: Ron Clements and John Musker
THE PROPOSAL - Dir: Robert Luketic
SCHOOLED - Dir: Walt Becker
SNOW - Dir: Francis Lawrence

DIMENSION
CELL - Dir: Eli Roth
COMEBACK - Dir: Fred Durst
PORKY'S - Dir: None attached
SUPERHEROES - Dir: Craig Mazin
WEDDING RINGER (PREVIOUSLY GOLDEN TUX) - Dir: Lavender and Garelick
YOUTH IN REVOLT - Dir: None attached

DREAMWORKS
CAMP CREEPY TIME - Dir: None attached
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS - Dir: Jay Roach
EAGLE EYE - Dir: DJ Caruso
GHOST TOWN - Dir: David Koepp
HOTEL FOR DOGS - Dir: Thor Freudenthal
I LOVE YOU MAN - Dir: John Hamburg
THE RIVALS - Dir: John Madden
SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE - Dir: None attached
SIEGE OF FULTON AVE - Dir: None attached
THE SOLOIST (PREVIOUSLY IMAGINING BEETHOVEN) - Dir: Joe Wright
THOUSAND WORDS - Dir: None attached
TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 - Dir: Steven Spielberg
WEDNESDAY - Dir: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
WILL - Dir: None attached

FOCUS
THE SERIOUS MAN - Dir: Joel and Ethan Coen
CURVEBALL - Dir: None attached but looking to Josh Marston
LITTLE GAME - Dir: Ang Lee
NICK AND NORAH - Dir: Peter Sollett
MEMORY OF A KILLER - Dir: None attached
PIANO TUNER - Dir: Werner Herzog
SIN NOMBRE - Dir: Cary Fukunaga

FOX
A-TEAM - Dir: None attached
COOL SCHOOL - Dir: None attached
DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - Dir: Scott Derrikson
FANTASTIC VOYAGE - Dir: Roland Emmerich
GULLIVERS TRAVELS - Dir: None attached
MAGNETO - Dir: David Goyer
ME TIME - Dir: None attached
RUNAWAY TRAIN - Dir: Martin Campbell
SELLING TIME - Dir: None attached
STREET FIGHTER - Dir: Andrezej Bartkowiak
THEY CAME FROM UPSTAIRS - Dir: John Schultz
TOOTH FAIRY - Dir: None attached
TROUBLE MAN (PREVIOUSLY WICHITA) - Dir: Tom Dey
USED GUYS - Dir: Jay Roach
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS - Dir: Tom Vaughn
WOLVERINE - Dir: Gavin Hood

FOX ATOMIC
BRAD CUTTER RUINED MY LIFE - Dir: Ari Sandel
CAPTAIN AWESOME - Dir: None attached
DON'T SEND HELP - Dir: None attached
I LOVE YOU BETH COOPER - Dir: None attached
PLAYBOYS - Dir: Trevor Moore/Zack Creggors
SPACE INVADER - Dir: Andrew Currie
SMASH AND GRAB - Dir: None attached but looking to John Moore

FOX SEARCHLIGHT
500 DAYS OF SUMMER - Dir: Marc Webb
KIDNAP - Dir: Nate Gwaltney
NOTORIOUS - Dir: George Tillman
RABBIT HOLE - Dir: None attached but looking to Sam Raimi
SECRET LIFE OF BEES - Dir: Gina Prince Bythewood
TOGETHER - Dir: Miguel Arteta
WAY BACK - Dir: None attached

FOX 2000
AFTERLIFE - Dir: None attached
ANOTHER BULLSHIT NIGHT IN SUCK CITY - Dir: Paul Weitz
BACHELOR BOYS - Dir: None attached
BOYS NEXT DOOR - Dir: None attached
CONTACT ZERO - Dir: None attached
DALLAS - Dir: Betty Thomas
LIFE OF PI - Dir: Jean Pierre Jeunet
LUCKY STRIKE - Dir: Tony Scott
MARLEY AND ME - Dir: David Frankel
MONTE CARLO (PREVIOUSLY HEADHUNTERS) - Dir: Tom Bezucha
RAMONA - Dir: Liz Allen
SHADOW DIVERS - Dir: None attached
TOWNHOUSE - Dir: John Carney
WOLF BROTHER - Dir: Catherine Hardwicke

GOLD CIRCLE
ARCANUM - Dir: Randall Wallace
CHILLED IN MIAMI - Dir: Jonas Elmer
FLYPAPER - Dir: None attached
HONEYMOON'S OVER - Dir: None attached

HBO FILMS
CONNIE & RUTH - Dir: Jane Anderson
RECOUNT - Dir: Jay Roach

INTERMEDIA
KILLER'S GAME - Dir: Simon Crane

LAKESHORE
GAME - Dir: Neveldine & Taylor
LINCOLN LAWYER - Dir: None attached

LIONSGATE
5 KILLERS - Dir: Mark Helfrich
ADDICTED - Dir: Peter Medak
ATLAS SHRUGGED - Dir: Vadim Perelman
BACHELOR #2 - Dir: Howard Deutch
CHURCHBOY - Dir: Sonu Gonera
MEANone attachedLLS - Dir: John Whitesell
PARTY BOYS - Dir: Pate Bros.
PUNISHER II - Dir: Lexi Alexander
SHRINK - Dir: Kevin Donovan
THE SPIRIT - Dir: Frank Miller
TULIA - Dir: John Singleton

MANDATE
CURVE - Dir: Charles Stone
DOGS OF BABEL - Dir: None attached
WHIP IT - Dir: Drew Barrymore

MIRAMAX
HERO - Dir: Julian Farino
THE RESURRECTIONISTS - Dir: John Madden

NEW LINE
20,000 LEAGUES - Dir: None attached
$40,000 MAN - Dir: Terry Zwigoff
APPALOOSA - Dir: Ed Harris
CONRAIL - Dir: Ericson Core
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK - Dir: Len Wiseman
FOUR CHRISTMASES - Dir: Seth Gordon
GEARS OF WAR - Dir: None attached
GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST - Dir: Mark Waters
HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU - Dir: Ken Kwapis
HONEYMOON WITH HARRY - Dir: None attached
KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW - Dir: Neil Jordan
KING OF KONG - Dir: Seth Gordon
MILD THINGS - Dir: Frank Coraci
MY SISTER'S KEEPER - Dir: Nick Cassavetes
PAPER WINGS - Dir: None attached
SEX & THE CITY - Dir: Michael King
SNITCH - Dir: Carl Franklin
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE - Dir: Robert Schwentke

NEW REGENCY
BIG MOMMA'S 3 - Dir: None attached
BRIDE WARS - Dir: None attached
CAGE - Dir: None attached
CAPRICORN ONE - Dir: None attached
DALLAS - Dir: None attached but looking to Betty Thomas
MONTE CARLO (PREVIOUSLY HEADHUNTERS) - Dir: Tom Bezucha
VOLTRON - Dir: None attached

OVERTURE
105 DEGREES - Dir: Jon AMiel
HUMBOLT PARK - Dir: None attached
RIGHTEOUS KILL - Dir: Jon Avnet
LAST CHANCE HARVEY - Dir: Joel Hopkins

PARAMOUNT
ANGUS, THONGS - Dir: Gurinder Chadha
CHEF - Dir: None attached
THE FIGHTER - Dir: Darren Aronofsky
GI JOE - Dir: None attached
I WANT TO _____ YOUR SISTER - Dir: None attached
LOVE GURU - Dir: Marco Schnabel
MEN MAKING MUSIC - Dir: Clay Tarver
NOWHERE LAND - Dir: Karey Kirkpatrick
PSYCHO FUNKY CHIMP - Dir: Ruben Fleischer
STAR TREK - Dir: JJ Abrams
THOR - Dir: Matthew Vaughn
TORSO - Dir: David Fincher
UNTITLED CAMERON CROWE - Dir: Cameron Crowe
YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY - Dir: Julian Farino
WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE - Dir: None attached
WORLD WAR Z - Dir: None attached

PARAMOUNT VANTAGE
AMERICAN STORAGE - Dir: Andrew Cohen
CAGED - Dir: Chris Kentis
DON READY (PREVIOUSLY CLAY HUJKO LIKES CARS) - Dir: Neal Brennan
DEFIANCE - Dir: Ed Zwick
DIRT - Dir: None attached

ROGUE
BELCOO EXPERIMENT - Dir: James Gunn
BFF - Dir: None attached
CASTLEVANIA - Dir: Sylvain White
DYNOMITE - Dir: Paul Feig
FIGHTIN' - Dir: Dito Montiel
LABOR DAY MASON - Dir: Will Gluck
LOST SQUAD - Dir: Leger & Mather
NEAR DARK - Dir: Sam Bayer

SCREEN GEMS
ARMORED - Dir: Nimrod Antal
BONE DEEP - Dir: John Luessenhop
THE BURIAL - Dir: None attached
THE CROSSING - Dir: None attached
INSANITARIUM - Dir: Jeff Buhler
LODGER D:David Ondaatje
KINGDOM COME - Dir: None attached
PHENOM - Dir: None attached
UNTITLED MARDI GRAS PROJECT - Dir: Phil Dornfeld

SPYGLASS
ANTHONY ZIMMER - Dir: Lasse Hallstrom
IRONBOW - Dir: Derin Seale

SONY
AGAINST ALL ENEMIES - Dir: Robert Redford
ALIEN UPRISING - Dir: Wolfgang Peterson
ANGELS AND DEMONS - Dir: Ron Howard
BASTER - Dir: Speck & Gordon
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Dir: None attached
BOND 22 - Dir: Marc Forster
BROTHERS - Dir: Jim Sheridan
EDWIN A. SALT - Dir: Terry George
FANTASY ISLAND - Dir: None attached
THE GRAYS - Dir: Wolfgang Peterson
I DREAM OF JEANNIE - Dir: None attached
JULIE JULIA - Dir: Nora Ephron
MONSTER HUNTER - Dir: David Dobkin
SAMMY'S HILL - Dir: David O. Russell
SEVEN POUNDS - Dir: Gabriele Muccino
STEP-BROTHERS - Dir: Adam Mckay
THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS - Dir: Steve Zaillian
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 - Dir: Tony Scott
TOKYO SUCKERPUNCH - Dir: None attached
YEAR ONE - Dir: Harold Ramis
VOYEUR - Dir: None attached

SONY CLASSICS
DANCING WITH SHIVA - Dir: Jonathan Demme

SUMMIT
DJINN - Dir: Nicholas Refn
NEED - Dir: Ryan Murphy
PARENTAL GUIDANCE - Dir: None attached
RAT BASTARD - Dir: Gary Winick
SEX DRIVE - Dir: Sean Anders

UNITED ARTISTS
THE BIRDCAGE 2 - Dir: None attached
PINKVILLE - Dir: Oliver Stone

UNIVERSAL
ABSENT HEARTS - Dir: Jim Whitaker
BARBARELLA - Dir: Robert Rodriguez
BIG BROTHERS - Dir: David Wain
THE CHANGELING - Dir: Clint Eastwood
CIRQUE DU FREAK - Dir: Paul Weitz
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - Dir: Breck Eisner
DARK FIELDS - Dir: None attached
DRACULA YEAR ZERO - Dir: Alex Proyas
FAST & FURIOUS 4 - Dir: Justin Lin
HURRICAINE SEASON - Dir: Billy Ray
I, THALUS (PREVIOUSLY OLYMPIAD) - Dir: Pete Segal
LAND OF THE LOST - Dir: Brad Silberling
THE LOS ANGELES RIOTS - Dir: Spike Lee
LA SCORTA - Dir: Asger Yeth
MAN AND WIFE - Dir: Gabriele Muccino
MY NAME IS JODY WILLIAMS - Dir: Audrey Wells
NOTTINGHAM - Dir: Ridley Scott
ONE NATION UNDER BOB - Dir: Tom Shadyac
PHARM GIRL - Dir: None attached
PLAYBOY - Dir: Brett Ratner
REPOSSESSION MAMBO - Dir: Miguel Sapochnik
RIPD - Dir: David Dobkin
SANDS OF TIME - Dir: None attached
SCOTT PILGRIM - Dir: Edgar Wright
STATE OF PLAY - Dir: Kevin McDonald
SOURCE CODE - Dir: None attached
TRAVELING - Dir: Brandon Camp
TRUMP HEIST - Dir: Brett Ratner
UNDOMESTIC GODDESS - Dir: None attached
UNTITLED CHARLES RANDOLPH PROJECT - Dir: None attached
UNTITLED JON FAVREAU PROJECT - Dir: Jon Favreau
WOLFMAN - Dir: Mark Romanek

WALDEN
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA - THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER - Dir: Michael Apted
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA - THE SILVER CHAIR - Dir: None attached
CITY OF THE BEASTS - Dir: None attached
TORTOISE AND THE HIPPO - Dir: John Dykstra
RELATIVITY - Dir: None attached

WARNER BROTHERS
1906 - Dir: Brad Bird
ALTERED CARBON - Dir: James McTeigue
ARRANGED - Dir: Gary Winick
CARPE DEMON - Dir: None attached
CLASH OF THE TITANS - Dir: None attached
THE DIRTY DOZEN - Dir: Guy Ritchie
FARRAGUT NORTH - Dir: None attached
GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE - Dir: None attached
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE - Dir: David Yates
HEART SHAPED BOX - Dir: Neil Jordan
HIMELFARB - Dir: Miguel Arteta
THE INCREDIBLE MR LIMPET - Dir: Chris Columbus
JUSTICE LEAGUE - Dir: None attached, but looking to George Miller
LOSERS - Dir:
MEN - Dir: Todd Phillips
MORTDECAI - Dir: None attached
NIGHTCRAWLERS - Dir: McG
PENETRATION - Dir: Ridley Scott
SHANTARAM - Dir: Mira Nair
SHERLOCK HOLMES - Dir: None attached
SPOOKS APPRENTICE - Dir: Tim Burton
THE TOWN - Dir: Adrian Lyne
YES MAN - Dir: Peyton Reed

WARNER INDEPENDENT
DISASSOCIATE - Dir: Zach Helm
QUEEN OF THE SOUTH - Dir: Jonathan Jakubowitz
MAN WITHOUT A GUN - Dir: Pete Travis
MESSAGE FROM THE KING - Dir: None attached
RUM DIARY - Dir: Bruce Robinson
WHITE JAZZ - Dir: Joe Carnahan

THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY
BERNARD THE GENIE - Dir: Richard Curtis
FLETCH WON - Dir: Steve Pink
I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT - Dir: David Frankel
GOING DOWN (PREVIOUSLY MUSKRAT LOVE) - Dir: Andy Fickman
NINE - Dir: Rob Marshall
THE READER - Dir: Stephen Daldry
SEVENTH SAMURAI - Dir: None attached, but looking to Justin Chadwick or Wayne Kramer
SHANGHAI - Dir: Mikael Hafstrom
TULIP FEVER - Dir: Peter Chelsom
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO - Dir: Kevin Smith

WORKING TITLE
BAD NEWS INC. - Dir: None attached
BURN AFTER READING - Dir: Coen Bros
EVEREST - Dir: None attached
FOOD FIGHT - Dir: Steve Brill
IMPERIAL LIFE - Dir: Paul Greengrass
LOST FOR WORDS - Dir: Suzanne Bier
THE RIP - Dir: Roger Michell
ROCK THE BOAT - Dir: Richard Curtis
YOUNG AT HEART - Dir: None attached

Even if half of these do happen, it will be at least Late Fall 2008 before we see the first of these titles. And, hopefully, they won't suck like a number of films made during the last pre-strike threat.

[crippled_avenger]

Berlin
Dragon Wars
D-War (South Korea)
By DEREK ELLEY
A giant evil serpent, intent on finding two people in Los Angeles, destroys much of the city in CGI-heavy Korean pic ``D-War.''

A Showbox/Mediaplex release of a Showbox presentation of a Younggu Art production. (International sales: Showbox, Seoul.) Produced by Choi Sung-ho, James B. Kang, Jeong Tae-sung. Executive producers, Kim Woo-taek, Shim Hyung-rae. Directed, written by Shim Hyeung-rae.

With: Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster, Craig Robinson, Elizabeth Pena, Chris Mulkey, Aimee Garcia, John Ales, Cody Arens.
(English, Korean dialogue)

Bad-mutha Korean serpents trash downtown L.A. in Eng-lish-language monsterfest "D-War," a feast of A-grade f/x married to a Z-grade, irony-free script. After some eight years in planning, production and post, and just over two years since live-action shooting wrapped, South Korea's biggest-budget production by far (reportedly $70 million) looks likely to end up the most expensive cult movie on DVD. Though often visually entertaining, and supe-rior to helmer Shim Hyeung-rae's last monster outing (1999's "Yonggary," aka "Reptilian"), pic looks to have an uphill fight in the hardtop arena.
Much-delayed movie is now looking at a July local release, maybe in a version different from that unspooled in the Berlin mar-ket. A U.S. distrib, said to be vital to pic's international release strat-egy, had yet to be announced as of early February.

Writer-director Shim did all the visual effects via his own studio, Younggu Art, set up after the debacle of "Yonggary." Judging by some of the footage sneaked over the years, the CGI has been reworked several times, to a present level that is perfectly acceptable (and frequently in-your-face impressive) for a pure genre movie.

Judging by some of the crater-like plot lacunae, pic has also been cut to the bone, making "D-War" at least an unabashed thrill ride once the vfx really kick in.

Early reels, criss-crossing be-tween contempo L.A. and Korea's Chosun Dynasty some 500 years ago, contain a lot of over-detailed exposition. Most is put in the mouth of antiques dealer Jack (vet Robert Forster) when young kid Ethan Kendrick (Cody Arens) is exposed to something radiating from an old Korean chest in his shop.

Jack explains (via flashbacks) that Ethan has been impregnated with the spirit of an ancient war-rior apprentice who once saved his beloved from the massive army of Buraki, a bad Imoogi (serpents who want to morph into dragons). Jack gives the kid a powerful pendant and tells him to seek out the modern equivalent of the apprentice's beloved, recognizable by a red-dragon tattoo on her shoulder.

When that young woman reaches 20, says Jack, the pair will have the power to reincarnate Imoogi as dragons. And after half a millennium, Buraki is due to have another try at harnessing that power.

Cut to Ethan as an adult TV news reporter (Jason Behr), at a time when L.A. has been shaken by a mysterious quake -- a signal for Buraki's return. Through a series of unlikely coincidences, Ethan meets Sarah (Amanda Brooks), who received the spirit of the apprentice's beloved at birth and is now feeling distinctly queasy.

At the 55-minute mark, pic turns into a full-fledged f/x ex-travaganza-cum-chase movie, as the ornery, 600-foot-long Buraki hunts the pair down in the streets of downtown L.A. and up the sides of its buildings, laying waste to most of the area. Dialogue is either strictly functional or Sarah exclaiming, "None of this makes sense!" Perfs are equally func-tional.

It's strange that Shim, a former comic actor, didn't seize the chance to make a more ironic movie -- maybe one playing off Korean-U.S. relations (a la "The Host") or simply one with more wit. Instead, "D-War" seems concerned only with cracking the U.S. and international market on a tech level, with the characters and their development an afterthought.

Serpents, dragons and assorted monsters (especially a sloth-like creature loaded with revolving cannons) are well imagined -- as are Buraki's foot soldiers -- though with nods in the direction of "Star Wars" and "The Lord of the Rings." Score by Steve Jablonsky is uninspired, other tech credits OK.


Camera (color, widescreen), Hubert Taczanowski; editor, Tim Alverson; music, Steve Jablonsky; production designers, Kim Yong-suk, Shim Jong-nam; art directors, Pamela Warner; costume designer, Niklas J. Palm; sound (Dolby Digital), Tom Curley; sound designer, Mark Mangini; visual effects, Younggu Art Studios; visual effects supervisor, Shim Ki-wook; stunt coordinators, Bud Davis, Dennis Scott; assistant director, Jonathan Southard (L.A.), Kim Min-soo (South Korea); casting, Christine Sheaks. Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival (market), Feb. 8, 2007. Running time: 100 MIN.

[Meho Krljic]

Možda je ovo već i pominjano ovde, ali ja za to ne znam, pošto se ionako ne sećam ničeg starijeg od pola sata. U svakom slučaju, videh jutros ne srbijan kafeu i pomislih "Cripple, Reaguj!!!"

HI!!!

Something rely good

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratko_mladic go in TV show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratko_mladic#TV_Show)

In 2007 couple of students from Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade (Uroš Tomić, Pavle Vučković) made a pilot for television sitcom named ,,Mladići"[11](international title is ,,Room-mates" since the title is play of words). It's about two young men (young men is ,,mladići" on Serbian) who need to move out of their parents house so their grandmother (Ratko Mladić's made-up-for-tv high school sweetheart) offers them her apartment if they agree to hide war criminal Ratko Mladić (played by Aleksandar Hrnjakovic) who is running away from his International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia trial. Even though the episode is based on almost pure fiction and fabricated truth, neither TV station in Serbia (including B92 and Radio Television of Serbia) wanted to pick this show up, and the reason was anything from ,,expensive production" (which is not true) to ,,theme that would make viewers angry" (and that could be true at some point, but South Park does it all the time and it re-invented modern television in that kind of way).

Our:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=18132179

Pilot episode for Serbian sitcom!!! Grandmother gives an apartment to her two grandsons, if they agree to hide war criminal Ratko Mladic who is running away from his Hague Tribunal trial.

Directed by Uros Tomic
Cinematography by Aleksandar Mijalilovic
Animation & Music by LoOney

[crippled_avenger]

Znam za ovo, ali to je bilo previše loše urađeno čak i za fakultetske standarde i uopšte nije toliko zanimljivo koliko se čini.

[Meho Krljic]

Ma, dobro, više sam mislio da ti je temacki blisko.

[crippled_avenger]

Jeste, i puno sam očekivao od toga, ali nažalost nema tu ništa zanimljivo, ako apstrahujemo da se u Srbiji više niko ne nada dobrom.

[crippled_avenger]

MTV Films will turn YouTube music satire viral video series "Million Dollar Strong" into a feature film reports Variety.

Mike O'Connell and Ken Jeong, who star in the satirical music video "What's It Gonna Be?" are set to star in the MTV comedy that O'Connell is writing with Peter Kline.

The story revolves around the meteoric rise of a delusional rapper (O'Connell) and his Asian foreign exchange student friend (Jeong) as they take on the hip-hop world.

Clay Allen helmed the viral video, but no director is attached yet for the film version. Todd Phillips will produce.

[crippled_avenger]

Seven 3-5 minute webisodes based on writer-director JT Petty's forthcoming horror film "The Burrowers" will premiere on the horror Web site/on-demand service FearNet in December says The Hollywood Reporter.

"Burrowers," written and directed by Petty, chronicles the tale of a rescue party that becomes the prey of a band of underground creatures. Clancy Brown, William Mapother and Sean Patrick Thomas star in the Lionsgate release due in 2008.

The webisodes will tell the story of a family trying to survive in the wilderness who unknowingly release an evil force when they ingest infected deer meat.

[crippled_avenger]

Steven Seagal is starring in "A Higher Form of Learning," an action thriller that he also wrote. Insight Film Studios and Cinetel are teaming on the direct-to-DVD film, which is being directed by Jeff King.

The story centers on a detective who travels the world in pursuit of serial killers. He finds himself in Memphis hunting two murderers while also chasing his own demons.

Cameras are set to roll this week in and around Vancouver.

Insight's Kirk Shaw is producing. Seagal is executive producing.

This is Seagal's latest foray in the profitable direct-to-DVD market. His last theatrical feature was 2002's "Half Past Dead."

[crippled_avenger]

What's a young actor to do once he finishes with a colossally successful franchise like HARRY POTTER? How about move to another globally recognized character?

There were some minor mumblings a few years back that boywizard Daniel Radcliffe was being pursued to portray famed spy James Bond in his formative years, based on a series of YOUNG BOND books by Charlie Higson. According to a source we'll call 'Average Kadavra', there's interest in the wand-waving thespian once again for the part... and the Radcliffe camp is in fact considering it.

The YOUNG BOND books tell of the future superagent's college years in the 1930s to match Ian Fleming's original Bond, though it's assumed the movie stories would be refitted to fall more in line with the character's latest screen incarnation.

While it's understandable that Radcliffe, two POTTER pics away from graduation, might want to cement another almost-guaranteed franchise (those mansions don't buy themselves!), it's not like 007 needs the extra attention thanks to the recent reinvigoration from CASINO ROYALE. But perhaps the property owners want to piggyback on the success of Daniel Craig's buff espionage bruiser.
Extra Tidbit: Youth-oriented Bond versions have been attempted before: the book "003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior" and the 1990s cartoon JAMES BOND JR., who fought the forces of S.C.U.M. (Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem).

[crippled_avenger]

Former Darkness singer Justin Hawkins and ex-Libertines guitarist Carl Barat have reportedly signed up to appear in a new Joe Meek biopic called Telstar.

The pair will play the roles of Screaming Lord Sutch and Gene Vincent in the film about the life of the famous tone-deaf music producer says British site Digital Spy.

Kevin Spacey is also rumoured to have agreed to play the part of Major Banks, a financial supporter of Meek, in the film.

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels actor Nick Moran makes his directorial debut on the film scheduled for release in spring 2008.

[crippled_avenger]

My rule of thumb with graphic novels is that damn near everyone short of my mother has to recommend a specific title before I start buying up back issues. This way, I get to experience grand stuff like Sandman and Hellboy while avoiding a heap of crap I would absolutely waste my time reading if it were piled up around the house. I have no quality filter once comics cross the threshold; if only I had the same compulsion to tear through novels and screenplays.

Garth Ennis's Preacher was special enough to hook me for a while in the late 90s, and it was cinematic enough in the telling to make me wonder if it might work as a film or mini-series in the hands of a talented, resourceful director. Unfortunately, the filmmakers who've been attached to the property over the years (e.g. Rachel Talalay and Howard Deutch) have been some of the very worst in the history of medium.

Deutch was the first director of choice for HBO and Mark Steven Johnson, who will executive produce the entire series and write the pilot. That's bad news until you consider that the Daredevil and Ghost Rider auteur has stated over and over that he will strive for a Zack Snyder-ian faithfulness with his adaptation. This means the success of the series will most likely be contingent on casting and directing. Though there's been no movement on the former, the search for the latter has heated up over the last week: first, we heard about Robert Rodriguez being courted. Some expressed doubt over this, but a friend of mine who's in position to know these things confirmed the story. What's more, he dropped this tidbit: they're looking for a big name director to make a splash with the pilot, after which they'll rotate other talented directors into the mix. And wait 'til you get a load of some of the names they're chasing.

When I heard Brian De Palma was in the running, I quit worrying about Mark Steven Johnson altogether. When I heard David Cronenberg was also in the running, I wondered if I was being jerked around. But it makes sense: Benderspink, which is producing Preacher, just worked with Cronenberg a few years ago on A History of Violence. That film was a critical and commercial success for both parties. Other directors being circled include Danny Boyle, Alex Proyas, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and, as previously mentioned, Rodriguez.

It's important to note that, while HBO is very serious about Preacher all of a sudden, the project is still in the discussion stage. That said, I can tell you for a fact that if there is a groundswell of interest online, the long shot odds of a De Palma or a Cronenberg directing the pilot of Preacher will improve dramatically. If you want a quality Preacher, now's the time to speak up. HBO is paying attention.

[Meho Krljic]

Hmmm, stvarno zvuči primamljivo ovo za Preachera. Ne kažem da ga nužno neće zasrati na kraju, ali zvuči interesantno.

[crippled_avenger]

Hi there, first time reviewer here and first time Toronto Film Fest attendee. There's 349 movies at TIFF but this one was said to be the most unique and original. I knew nothing about it or director Hitoshi Matsumoto before it was announced for TIFF but the plot summary made it sound like something I had to see for myself. It really helped that Matsumoto is a huge star in Japan so there was an unusually high ratio of asian vs. "round-eye" and they love every minute of this guy. There was a lot of energy at the midnight showing, been a while since I've felt that in a theatre.

Dai-Nipponjin translates to "The Great Japanese" and is the story of Daisato; a 40-something guy who lives in a run down, messy house with a stray cat. His ex-wife doesn't want to see him, his 8 year old daughter doesn't care about him and he has to deal with his grandfather who is suffering from dementia. He's considered something of a joke by those around him and his tv show is failing in the ratings. What's his tv show about? It's follows him as he transforms into a 100 foot tall giant who battles the "baddies" who, whether intentionally or not, cause destruction in Japan.

So the movie certainly has elements of giant monster movies from Japan but this is taken to a whole other place. The movie is told as a documentary, it's something akin to It's All Gone Pete Tong or even The Office. A cameraman is following Daisato around, asking him about his day to day life, why he carries an umbrella around, how often he eats out, how much he makes... it's pretty mundane stuff and it's done with some great subtle and not so subtle humour. It's quirky and cute, Matsumoto has a dead-pan delivery that likens him to a Japanese Steven Wright with no punch lines, there are only hints at what is coming.

Everything seems pretty normal and bleak until Daisato gets a phone call and he informs the camera man that he has to go to work; he has to "bake". So he rushes off to a power plant, where they juice him up with megawatts of power (via nipple clamps) that cause him to grow into a giant, tattoo covered, purple speedo wearing baddie fighter: Dai-Nipponjin. And unlike Hulk, he actually carries around the giant purple speedos with him for when he makes this transformation (see the attached pic with undies hanging behind him). The transformation is where this movie just goes from funny to insane.

The first baddie is the Squishee Baddie, he looks like something out of a Chris Cunningham video, a large white figure with a giant elastic band for arms that he wraps around buildings before flipping them upside down. Oh, and his head is that of an elderly Japanese man with a bad combover. Ths is all done CGI and it looks incredible, a huge contrast to the hand held camera work of the documentary. I couldn't wipe the smile of my face.

We see Dai-Nipponjin fight several very strange baddies throughout the movie and we see the struggles he has of his show and his family. There are several scenes of complete losecontrolandlaughoutloud madness, often coming from the quieter moments. And even after all the over the top things you see through out the movie, the final scenes throw it into another world, bringing in an Ultraman type family to help Daisato conquer a great new foe. I don't want to spoil anything but there are wedgies and flying babies involved.

Bottom line, this movie is insane. If you're a fan of giant monsters and completely crazy humour find this movie. I have no idea when it's going to come out proper in North America, but run see this anyway you can (yes, ANYWAY possible). You can wash the taste out of your mouth with laughter.

I should have reviews of The Devil's Chair (brit horror about an evil chair...) and À l'intérieur (french horror, compared to Brain Dead/Dead Alive in gore content) coming tomorrow.

They call me El Giante

[crippled_avenger]

http://dobanevinosti.blogspot.com/2007/09/glogov-kolac.html

[crippled_avenger]

IFC Releasing has picked up "Finishing the Game" and "Savage Grace" for domestic release reports the trades.

"Finishing" sends up stereotypes and martial-arts pics by envisioning how Bruce Lee's final film, "Game of Death," might have ended up had it been recast and completed after the star's death. Director Justin Lin ("Better Luck Tomorrow," "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift") helmed the feature which is scheduled for an October release in theaters and on VOD.

Julianne Moore stars in the Tom Kalin-directed "Savage Grace" which premiered in Cannes. The story is a dramatization of the shocking Barbara Daly Baekeland murder case in which the unstable wealthy socialite was killed by her 25-year-old gay son with whom she'd been having an incestuous sexual relationship.

[crippled_avenger]

Hollywood Gang Prods. will remake the 1978 actioneer "The Wild Geese" with Rupert Sanders attached to direct reports Variety.

Based on Daniel Carney's unpublished novel "The Thin White Line," the original film starred Richard Burton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris. The story followed a group of British mercenaries who are contracted to free an imprisoned African leader.

Discussions are under way to bring the film to Warner Bros. Pictures. Hollywood Gang is also adapting graphic novels "Ocean" by Warren Ellis and "Ronin" by Frank Miller.

[crippled_avenger]

Comedy actress Anna Faris confirms that she's set to play Linda Susan Boreman, better known by her porn stage name Linda Lovelace, in the upcoming feature "Inferno" reports MTV News.

Faris and first-time director Matthew Wilder are currently putting together the project which they hope to get underway pre-strike next June. Faris says It's a really deep, dark drama...This would be incredibly intense. It would be the most difficult thing I've done, and I'm really nervous...It's a pretty tragic story. It's going to be a challenge, definitely."

Lovelace became a household name after the 1972 X-rated porn film "Deep Throat" became a pop-culture phenomenon that had stars like Johnny Carson and Jack Nicholson attending showings. Porn became chic, and the film has to date grossed more than $600 million worldwide.

In the years that followed, however, Lovelace reinvented herself as an anti-porn crusader, toiled in poverty and insisted that she had a gun held to her head off-camera during those infamous "Throat" scenes, blaming the experience largely on her manager/husband Chuck Traynor. Lovelace died in 2002 following a car accident and several weeks on life support.

Faris confirms that other stars haven't been cast yet, whilst the script is still being developed - "We've yet to find Linda's husband. That's sort of our hang-up right now; we're trying to get that."

[crippled_avenger]

"Rush Hour" director Brett Ratner and actor Chris Tucker will reteam for New Line's "Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra" reports Variety.

Ratner is attached to direct and produce and Tucker eyeing the starring role of valet George Jacobs who worked for Sinatra from 1953-68.

The story is based on the 2003 book which offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of Sinatra and the Rat Pack. William Stadiem, co-scribe of the book, has been tapped to write the screenplay.

The story weaves in celebrity anecdotes involving Marilyn Monroe, Peter Lawford, the Kennedys, Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart, Mia Farrow, Elvis Presley, Swifty Lazar and Marlene Dietrich, among others.

[crippled_avenger]

New Line has landed screen rights to the just published Ben Macintyre book "Agent Zigzag: True Wartime Story of Love and Deception" reports the trades.

The book, published last week by Harmony Books, centers on the true-life story of Eddie Chapman, a criminal, con man and philanderer who was recruited and trained by the Nazis at the beginning of World War II.

Chapman quickly became a master of espionage, and while on a mission to destroy an airplane factory in Britain, contacted the M15, Britain's secret service, thus beginning his life as a double agent.

Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing.

[crippled_avenger]

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has scored a role in Spike Lee's WW2 drama "The Miracle at St. Anna" says Vogue.

The film deals with a regiment of black soldiers stationed in Tuscany during World War Two. Campbell has confirmed that she had meetings with and just signed a contract with Lee the other day.

Campbell says "It's a very very small role but it involves subject matter that I'm really passionate about...it's a subject that nobody has ever touched upon."

She adds that "There are all the war time films of course but you never see a black soldier in any of them. I'll do anything for Spike and I really think we should be more educated about the role of people of colour in our history."

A late 2008 release is the earliest release it could be.

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Director Lexi Alexander ("Green Street Hooligans") has used her official site to announce three new actors joining the cast of "Punisher: War Zone."

Dash Mihok ("Hollywoodland," "Basic") will play Detective Detective Martin Soap, Colin Salmon ("Resident Evil," "Tomorrow Never Dies") is Agent Paul Budiansky and Doug Hutchison ("The Green Mile," "The X-Files") will be Loony Bin Jim.

Alexander says "There are not a lot of directors in the process of making a studio action film who can say that they don't have at least one bad actor somebody made them cast. I can say that. Still. (Knocking on every piece of wood as I speak). I have the best cast on the planet. The movie Gods were watching over me."

She also confirms that the villain Jigsaw has been cast but hasn't announced it yet. A 2008 release is planned for the film with Ray Stevenson cast in the title role.

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Dante

"Gremlins" director Joe Dante can recount endless anecdotes about Roger Corman movies, and with his new project "Trailers From Hell," he'll be sharing a few of them with Web and cell-phone users.
Dante and other Hollywood directors are recording new commentary tracks for the trailers to venerable horror and exploitation films. The project is being distributed via the Web at Trailersfromhell.com and on Sprint's "Fun Little Movies" channel. Producers are also in negotiations to bundle the series of shorts with an on-demand package including similar content.

Directors with tracks already recorded include Edgar Wright ("Hot Fuzz"), who talks about his love of '60s Eurospy actioner "Danger: Diabolik," and Dante, who dishes on Corman shlockfest "The Terror." Helmers tapped for future contributions include Mick Garris ("The Shining" and "The Stand" TV miniseries) on "X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes" and Mary Lambert ("Pet Semetary") on "Village of the Damned."

Indie producer Elizabeth Stanley is producing "Trailers From Hell," and Jonas Hudson will be distributing it through his company the Nickels Group.

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Brad Pitt is in negotiations to team with Darren Aronofsky for Paramount's drama "The Fighter."

Pitt is replacing Matt Damon, who had to bow out because of scheduling conflicts. Pitt famously pulled out of Aronofsky's "The Fountain" in 2002 which effectively killed that project for several years.

Based on the life of boxer "Irish" Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his trainer brother Dick Eklund (Pitt), 'Fighter' chronicles their early days on the rough streets of Lowell, Mass., through Eklund's battle with drugs and Ward's eventual world championship in London.

Scott Silver ("8 Mile") is rewriting the script. The studio is aiming for a Fall 2008 shoot. Pitt will shoot "State of Play" for Universal in the winter.

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Winona Ryder and Mickey Rourke have joined the ensemble cast of Gregor Jordan's "The Informers," an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel says The Hollywood Reporter.

The drama, which tells seven separate stories set in 1980's Los Angeles, follows a week in the lives of a group of morally challenged characters -- a movie executive, his wife, his mistress, a rock star, a vampire and a kidnapper.

Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Brandon Routh, Ashley Olsen, Jon Foster, Lou Taylor Pucci and Austin Nichols have already been cast.

Ryder will play a newscaster who has just been dumped after a longtime affair with a married producer William Sloan.

Rourke will play Peter, an amoral former studio security guard who plots to kidnap a small child to sell to the leader of a Los Angeles cult.

Principal photography will begin in October in Los Angeles.

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New Regency has acquired comic pitch "Pets," with James Gunn to write and direct. Red Hour's Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and Jeremy Kramer are producing.
Gunn, best known for scripting the "Scooby-Doo" pics, is back in pet mode. The comedy concerns a man abducted by aliens who want to turn him into a household pet. Peter Safran will exec produce.

"Pets" is the latest in a series of Regency deals for projects geared to a young male demo; 20th Century Fox will distribute.

Red Hour is producing "Tropic Thunder," the ensemble comedy that Stiller is directing in Hawaii, and "The Ruins," the Carter Smith-directed horror film adaptation of the Scott B. Smith novel. Both pics are for DreamWorks.

Gunn, who also scripted the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, most recently wrote and directed "Slither."

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NEW YORK -- New Magnolia Pictures genre label Magnet has attracted North American rights to two action flicks, Ernesto Diaz Espinoza's "Kiltro" and "Mirageman," both featuring martial arts lead Marko Zaror.

In "Kiltro," Zaror plays a violent gangster out to avenge the killing of his mother. The film was a hit in writer/director Espinoza's native Chile. "Mirageman" showcases the acrobatic actor as a masked vigilante.

"Kiltro" has its stateside premiere this week at Austin's Fantastic Film Festival. Both features are slated for release in 2008.

Better known abroad than in the U.S., Zaror won the 2004 Stuntman of the Year award for his work as The Rock's stunt double in "The Rundown." "At 6'2", 210 pounds, it's magic to watch him move with such speed, power and style," said producer Derek Rundell.

The deal was negotiated by Magnet/Magnolia senior vp Tom Quinn and head of business affairs Jason Janego, with Rundell and his rep Houston King.

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Harry says Daniel Waters' SEX AND DEATH 101 at Fantastic Fest was better than a Blowjob On A Stick!!!


There are few films at FANTASTIC FEST that I've been looking forward to more than SEX AND DEATH 101. It has been hyped as the reteaming of Daniel Waters and Winona Ryder – last we saw of them was HEATHERS – a film that was a clarion call for the teenage genre. SEX AND DEATH 101 isn't a teenage film. And Daniel Waters wasn't the director of HEATHERS – so in advance of this film – I had high hopes, but I did have them guarded with uncertainness.

Having Daniel Waters and Patton Oswalt hitting the stage before the film... well it's kinda meta-perfect. Instantly they put you in the mood for giggles and silliness – but what followed wasn't a film about cotton candy lightness.

The basic premise is that out of a bad studio romantic comedy. A ladies' man on the precipice of matrimony is emailed a list of everyone he had ever had sex with in the correct order. Not only that, but it had their first and last names – many of which, he couldn't recall himself. He was proud of his 29 conquests – but the list has far many more names than that. In fact it goes on to list 101 names. He figures it was a hoax perpetrated by one of his bachelor party buddies... but then – without even trying – he finds his penis in the snug velvety humid place it loves to reside. He's dumbstruck. How could he marry someone knowing that there's 70+ women he's supposed to bed. Perhaps, she really isn't the one for him.

Meanwhile – parallel to this story – is the tale of DEATH NELL – as she is named by the local media – who is a dark female killing sexual predators... well, technically – she doesn't kill them, she puts them into a coma, from which they never awake.

Now – it might seem to be a silly premise for a film, but Daniel Waters, while being silly – takes the premise deadly seriously – which is what makes it so hilarious. Imagine knowing the name of everyone you'd ever get to sleep with. Then you see that person's name in a Playboy... and you realize – you get to bed a Playmate? That's the sort of knowledge that could drive a man insane. Or even worse – what if you fell in love with a name not on the list and they would never fall for you, that you'd never be with them, no matter how much you wanted it – no matter how much they wanted it. SOMETHING would happen. Something would go wrong. Who you're going to have sex with is pre-determined... and nothing you could do could change it.

You're doomed to never have a surprise... the mystery of love, passion, romance... it's gone. You're fated for a certain existence – and it doesn't matter if you want to settle down and raise a family. That's not your fate. The list was a list of the rest of your life – and that last name... what does that mean?

The film is so brilliantly done. There are montage sequences that left me gasping for air laughing.

Simon Baker as the blessed albeit cursed cocksman of the piece is dashing, debonair and well... you'll leave the theater thinking... life kicked your father in the nuts and left your sperm slightly malformed for creating something handsome. He is perfect.

Now the particularly brilliant twist is a completely unexplained group of characters named ALPHA, BETA and FRED. Fred is played by Patton Oswalt – who is so excited by Simon Baker's pre-dick-tion email. You see, their machine sent it out. They're sort of like Clarence from IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, but just regular on Earth technicians that are handling what the Oracle (God's Computer?) gives them.

They add a "Greek chorus" to the proceedings and Patton has several moments of absolute comedic brilliance.

Though his BLOWJOB ON A STICK quote has left me perplexed. At first, I thought it was sort of like an automatic blowjob, but then I thought – no, that's not it. Then I thought – does he mean that it would be like cutting off your dick, putting it on a stick like a corndog and sucking it yourself – but like you could still feel your own blowjob? And then you could pass it around the room? I'm not sure. What do you think the phrase, "BLOWJOB ON A STICK" means? It is surely one of life's great mysteries.

SEX AND DEATH 101 is going to be coming out some time next year in a limited then hopefully large release from the folks at Anchor Bay. I hope they solve their problems of theatrical distribution, because this film deserves to play and play extremely well in theaters across the country.

It reminds me of classic sex farces like the original ALFIE or THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN or SHAMPOO. It really is that good. Daniel Waters? It's nice to have you back in fine form!

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Entertainment Weekly reports that director Tony Scott will reunite with Denzel Washington for "The Taking of Pelham 123."

Based on the 1974 movie starring Walter Matthau, the story would feature Washington as a cop who must stop a hijacked subway car.

Scott and Washington previously collaborated on Crimson Tide, Man on Fire and Déjà Vu. 'Pelham' is a pre-strike priority for Sony Pictures.

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Eli Roth, Michael Dougherty and Jon August are all tipped to be contributing scripts and potentially directing episodes of the upcoming "Heroes: Origins" spin-off series...

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Postal
(U.S.-Canada-Germany)
By DENNIS HARVEY
Larry Thomas is Osama bin Laden to Brent Mendenhall's George W. Bush in Uwe Boll's 'Postal.'

More than one option(Person) Larry Thomas
(Person) Larry Thomas
(Person) Larry Thomas
(Person) Larry Thomas
(Person) Larry Thomas

A Freestyle release (in U.S.) of a Boll Kino (Germany) production in association with Brightlight Pictures (Canada). Produced by Uwe Boll, Dan Clarke, Shawn Williamson. Executive producers, Vince Desiderio, Steve Wik. Directed by Uwe Boll. Screenplay, Boll, Bryan C. Knight, based on the videogame by Running With Scissors.

Dude - Zack Ward
Uncle Dave - Dave Foley
Richard - Chris Coppola
Mohammed - Michael Benyaer
Faith - Jackie Tohn
Candidate Wells - J.K. Simmons
Officer John - Ralf Moeller
Himself - Verne Troyer
Officer Greg - Chris Spencer
Osama bin Laden - Larry Thomas

Another videogame adaptation, "Postal" is otherwise quite different from what audiences expect from oft-dissed helmer (and scenarist) Uwe Boll. This energetic if scattershot farce aims to be the "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" of bad-taste satires on an out-of-control post-9/11 world. Like that non-classic, its sheer exertion often impresses more than the number of actual laughs scored. Still, this anything-goes exercise isn't dull -- one just wishes the outrageousness were more consistently funny.
Deliberate flaunting of myriad taboos could make "Postal's" planned October U.S. theatrical launch problematic with skittish exhibitors. But if marketed as a film with something to offend everyone (as "The Loved One" once was), it could draw youngish adults who enjoy rude humor with an edge. On DVD, the pic will no doubt acquire a fan base in many territories, Uncle Sam's included.

Original three "Postal" vidgames have been widely criticized (and sometimes banned) as works of tasteless, desensitizing mayhem. Defenders say the games are too clearly over-the-top satirical to promote the violence, racism and other bad behaviors depicted.

Certainly, Boll's translation is equal-opportunity cartoonish in embracing and sending up stereotypes and sacred cows, though most mainstream viewers -- not the target demo here -- will be appalled by certain ideas being used for comedy. They range from an opening 9/11 hijacker cockpit sequence to a fade with secret allies George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden skipping hand-in-hand into the nuclear explosion-riddled sunset.

In between, countless deliberate offenses are lobbed at the viewer, including much gratuitous child imperilment and Dave Foley's exposed member. Targets skewered include not just the Taliban and the Bush administration but also gun-crazy Americans, tree-hugging Americans, motivational seminars, why-can't-we-all-just-get-along inspirational speeches, Asian-American drivers, handicapped panhandlers and "Brokeback Mountain." Boll himself, who appears as the director of a Third Reich-themed "Little Germany" amusement park cheerfully admits, "My films are funded by Nazi gold" (an actual Internet rumor).

Known as Dude (Zack Ward), then Postal Dude once he's unfairly linked to various crimes, the protag is a hapless resident of ill-named burg Paradise. Unemployed and desperate, he turns to uncle Dave (Foley), founder of a New Age-y apocalyptic cult whose real purpose seems to be to provide him with Playboy Bunny-type worshippers. Unfortunately, the IRS has gotten wise and he needs a major cash infusion fast.

Dave and Dude come up with a plan to steal a valuable shipment of Krotchy Dolls, a toy in high demand but short supply. Unfortunately, the same idea is seized on by Mohammed (Michael Benyaer), fervent chief acolyte to bin Laden (Larry Thomas), who is hiding right here in Paradise. Once the two factions collide at Little Germany, the pic piles on one chase and splatstick set piece after another.

Boll achieves a bright, big-production feel on a reported $15 million budget, with tech and design contributions adding to the colorful overall impact. Cast was encouraged to invent business on-set, resulting in some nice riffing. But for every genuinely funny idea, there are others that play flat, while many others settle for scatological outrageousness of a non-envelope-pushing kind.

Boll does mean to provoke, but to pull off a satirical critique of the volatile subjects here would require sharper wit than he and co-scenarist Bryan C. Knight generally provide. "Borat," "Team America: World Police" and "Hot Fuzz" mixed subversive commentary and bad-taste humor with a cleverness "Postal" seldom achieves, though its sheer antic energy does compensate somewhat.

Amid otherwise fairly broad performances, Ward's deadpan transition from milquetoast to Rambo does a lot to hold the pic together.

More than one option(Person) Shawn Williamson
(Person) Shawn Williamson
More than one option(Person) Dan Clarke
(Person) Daniel Clarke
(Person) Dan Clarke
More than one option(Person) Chris Spencer
(Person) Chris Spencer
(Person) Chris Spencer
More than one option(Film) A Idolatrada
(Film) The Loved One
More than one option(Film) Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
(Person) Sacha Baron Cohen
More than one option(Film) Hot Fuzz
(Person) Dorota Bialy-Wieczorek
Camera (color, Panavision), Mathias Neumann; editor, Julian Clarke; music, Jessica de Rooij; production designer, Tink; art director, John Alvarez; set decorator, Joanne LeBlanc; costume designer, Maria Livingstone; sound (Dolby Digital), Mark Noda; second unit director, Danny Virtue; second unit camera, Todd Elyzen; assistant director, Knight; casting, Maureen Webb. Reviewed at Dead Channels: the San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film, Aug. 9, 2007. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 106 MIN.



With: Michael Pare, Jodie Stewart, David Huddleston, Seymour Cassel, Erick Avari, Lonelle New, Holly Eglington, Lucie Guest, Uwe Boll, Vince Desiderio, Brent Mendenhall.

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IGN Movies has been informed by a reliable source that Sony Pictures is developing a remake of The Karate Kid that will be produced by Will Smith's Overbook Entertainment and Jerry Weintraub.

Will's 9-year-old son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith ("The Pursuit of Happyness") is apparently attached to star in the remake.

This new Karate Kid is currently out to writers. Weintraub also produced the 1984 film, starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, and its three sequels.

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Duo team up for 'Superhero'
Arts Alliance, Netflix outfit acquire documentary
By DADE HAYES Arts Alliance America and Netflix's Red Envelope have teamed to acquire "Confessions of a Superhero," a doc produced by "Half Nelson's" Jamie Patricof that wowed auds at South by Southwest.
AAA (formerly Hart Sharp Video) will distribute theatrically starting in Gotham on Nov. 2, and then on DVD in January, all under its "Morgan Spurlock Presents" banner. Spurlock's "Super Size Me" was a theatrical phenom that became a DVD smash for Hart Sharp.

Pic, helmed by first-timer Matt Ogens (who also produced, along with Patricof and Charlie Gruet), chronicles the alternately poignant and amusing paths of the struggling actors who pay the bills by playing superheroes on Hollywood Boulevard. Central characters are Batman, Superman, the Hulk and Wonder Woman.

The Wall Street Journal featured the bizarre demimonde of Hollywood pseudo-superheroes in an October 2005 article.

Reviewers, especially online, have sparked to the film, which is set to screen again at AFI in October.

A correction was made to this article on Sept. 26, 2007.

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"The Queen," "Frost/Nixon" and "The Last King of Scotland" scribe Peter Morgan has started work on a follow-up to "The Queen" which will examine former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's relationships with U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush reports Variety.

Morgan initially considered tackling the more obvious drama surrounding the run-up to the Iraq war, when Blair fatally compromised his own leadership through his wholehearted support for Bush's invasion plans.

In the end Morgan decided that the roots of those events lay in Blair's difficult adjustment to the handover of power from natural liberal ally Clinton to neo-conservative Bush and how that affected the relationship between Britain and America.

Michael Sheen is expected to reprise his role as Blair, the third time he's played Blair following "The Queen" and the Channel 4 telemovie "The Deal" which was also by Morgan. Sheen is set to play legendary English soccer coach Brian Clough in another Morgan screenplay, "The Damned United," which Tom Hooper begins filming next April.

Morgan is currently researching the project with a plan to start writing by the end of this year. Morgan recently finished a rewrite of "State of Play" and a draft of the adaptation of John le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" for Working Title.

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Screenwriter Skip Woods ("Hitman," "Swordfish") has been brought in to revise David Benioff's screenplay for "Wolverine" reports IGN Movies.

Meanwhile director Gavin Hood talked about the film to IESB.Net this weekend and confirms the shoot should last 3-4 months, almost all taking place in Sydney's Fox Studios, and it will be a PG-13 rating.

He adds "We start shooting the film in December, we start shooting the film in December, possibly January, we are very involved in the process and now and we'll be casting over the next couple of months."

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The Yari Film Group is fast-tracking "Killing Pablo," the long-gestating biopic about the late Pablo Escobar, with Javier Bardem and Christian Bale toplining reports Variety.

Bardem is slated to play Escobar, while Bale is in talks to play Major Steve Jacoby, the Delta Force commander who led the hunt for Escobar.

Escobar's rise as a leader of the drug cartel in Medellin, Colombia, began in the 1970s. After years of terrorizing police and political leaders, Escobar was targeted in 1992 by a coalition of Colombian police and military, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the CIA; he was killed the following year.

Based on Mark Bowden's tome, Joe Carnahan ("Narc," "Smokin' Aces") remains attached to direct. Shooting could begin as early as next June, but if the strike goes forward production will wait until after the work stoppage.

Inače KILLING PABLO je već postao jedna od najvećih enigmi u Holivudu,. Otud recimo treća i četvrta sezona serije ENTOURAGE govore o tome kako se snima MEDELLIN što je u stvari njihova aluzija na KILLING PABLO.

Trejler za MEDELLIN možete naći na

www.medellinthemovie.com

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Spyglass Entertainment has acquired the rights to remake David Cronenberg's 1979 horror classic "The Brood" reports Variety.

The psychological/supernatural thriller centers on a woman who undergoes medical treatment that causes her inner rage to physically manifest itself.

Much like John Carpenter, Cronenberg is seeing remakes of his early works quickly coming to fruition. His 1981 effort "Scanners" remains on track to be remade. Cory Goodman has been tapped to pen the screenplay.

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Peter Travis ("Omagh," "Vantage Point") has been set by Warner Independent Pictures to direct the fact-based political thriller "Man Without a Gun" reports Variety.

Stuart Beattie ("Collateral") wrote the script, based on a memoir by Gianni Picco, about the U.N. hostage negotiator who successfully brokered the release of long-held hostages from Lebanon-based terrorists in the late 1980s.

Production begins early next year.

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Last week I had the chance to chat with Matthew Michael Carnahan about his first major script The Kingdom, which hits theaters this Friday. During the interview we also talked about Lions for Lambs, the Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise flick. We also talked about the Brad Pitt and Ed Norton starrer State of Play as well as Joe Carnahan's adaptation of James Ellroy's White Jazz starring George Clooney, but more on those on Monday.
Today I have for you what he is currently working on and it sounds fantastic. For anyone that loved Zodiac it sounds like this one could be just as good if it falls in the right hands.

Nope, sorry, it isn't another superhero movie, the pic is called Zebra Murders and Carnahan is writing it for DreamWorks based on 23 attacks that occurred in San Francisco by a group of six African American men. To have me describe it would be a waste; here is how Carnahan described the entire pitch to me:


It's a story called Zebra Murders for DreamWorks, and it's this great, little story, little in terms that it was lost in the time of Zodiac, Watergate and the Vietnam kind of miasma. In San Francisco, in the early '70s, six African American men from the Nation of Islam temple on Fillmore Street went around the city and were attacking white people at random. They killed fifteen and wounded eight. Everything from walking up behind an 80-year-old factory worker, putting a bullet in his head and jumping in a car to grabbing a couple, the Hague couple, on a walk one night. [The Hague's were] new to the city, University of Colorado grads, freshly married, they were grabbed, put in a van and they began hacking both of them with machetes. The husband, who watched his wife be hacked to death, lived and the wife was killed and these guys had the city of San Francisco in absolute terror.

Mayor Alioto made African American males in San Francisco carry things called Zebra Cards, identification cards. It was this little slice of apartheid right in the middle of San Francisco in the '70s and the city almost blew apart because of it.

The two cops that were instrumental in catching these six guys were African American themselves, in the middle of being as infuriated and frustrated and pissed off for all the same reasons and all the same causes these guys from the Nation of Islam were. It's this amazing cognition you have when you are doing the research and realize that the real revolutionaries aren't these idiots running around killing unarmed people, it's these cops that choose to enter a predominately Irish, very racist, police department in San Francisco in this time frame and just through their own shear ability become great cops. The younger of the two, Earl Sanders, goes on to become the first black police chief in San Francisco's history. That's the story I am doing right now and I think it has all this great and raw material.

It's just such a little gem of a story. If I can put two sentences together I think hopefully people will want to be involved.
Tell me you don't want to see that movie. Imagine David Fincher getting hold of this one as well. If all this sounds good to you, wait until my full interview comes online. Carnahan and I chatted for 45 minutes on everything he has done and it is one hell of a read so stay tuned.

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Dominique Swain will star in "Slaughter," the Slamdance competition winning script by Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby for Maverick Films reports Reuters.

Swain will play a young actress who travels to a remote desert location to shoot a film called "Slaughter," only to discover she and her co-stars have been cast in a snuff film and must fight to survive.

Victor Garcia ("Return to House on Haunted Hill") is attached to direct. Principal photography will begin this month in Los Angeles.

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Fox Atomic taps JT Petty for 'Goth'
Videogame writer to direct novel adaptation
By TATIANA SIEGEL
Petty

Fox Atomic has tapped vidgame scribe JT Petty to write and direct "Goth," which is based on a best-selling Japanese novel.
Described as a gothic love story, the project revolves around two high school teens from opposite sides of the tracks who are forced to come together to take down a serial killer in their hometown.

Kadokawa, which published the original novel and manga comic, will serve as executive producer on the film. Lauren C. Weissman, Jennie Lew Tugend and Shinya Egawa from Kadokawa brought the project to Atomic.

Petty recently directed "The Burrowers," an original Western horror film that is in post-production. He also wrote and directed "Soft for Digging," "Mimic: Sentinel" and "S&Man."