the most anticipated...

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Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson and Steve Coogan have joined the cast of the comedy "The Other Guys" for Sony Pictures says Variety.

Johnson and Jackson will play an elite cop tandem whose exploits are the envy of the department and the second-tier fellow cops played by Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

Coogan is set as the villain. Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton and Damon Wayans Jr. also star.

Adam McKay ("Anchorman") directs from a script by Chris Henchy and McKay.

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Diablo Cody's heading back to high school, signing on to write and produce an adaptation of the "Sweet Valley High" book series for Universal. Mason Novick, Adam Siegel and Marc Platt are also producing.

U agreed to a deal with Cody and her manager Novick, outbidding Fox for the project. It's in talks to acquire the film rights to the book series created by Francine Pascal and published by Random House.

The "Sweet Valley" novels followed the lives of identical twins with dissimilar personalities -- the sensitive and practical Elizabeth and the flighty and boy-crazy Jessica -- in the fictional town of Sweet Valley. There were more than 150 books in the series between 1983 and 2003 and a TV series with 88 episodes between 1994 and 1997.

U put out the word last week that it's not spending money for the rest of this year to advance development projects -- unless they're being fast-tracked or greenlit (Daily Variety, Sept. 18). Deal comes on the heels of a tepid opening for "Jennifer's Body," which Cody scripted.


Cody's also attached to produce "Breathers: A Zombie's Lament" for Fox Searchlight.

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Promising that "I'm going back to doing what I do best," Bob Weinstein is revving up franchises and genre films for Dimension, with familiar faces onboard (e.g., Neve Campbell has just signed for "Scream 4") and a new emphasis on 3D.

"Scream 4" will start production in April or May as the first of a new trilogy, and the company is talking to Wes Craven to direct, Weinstein reports. In addition to Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette will return to the "Scream" franchise.

Robert Rodriguez is writing "Spy Kids 4," which he will direct in 3D. The movie will be made in partnership with Disney and will start shooting in March, Weinstein said. In addition, the company wants to shoot "Halloween III" in 3D, aiming to release it in October 2010. Dimension also is remaking the cult classic "Children of the Corn."

Scream4_FLEMING

"I'm heading back to my franchise films," Weinstein said, citing plans to shoot sequels to "Hellraiser" and "Scanners" in 3D. Also on the slate are remakes of "Short Circuit" and "An American Werewolf in London." "These films are our strength, and we are committed to doing them in style."

The first two "Scream" pictures grossed more than $100 million each, while "Scream 3" grossed $89 million in the U.S.

Weinstein also said that "The Road" will open wide Nov. 25 in some 800 theaters.

In response to a query, Weinstein said, "There is no question that financing is readily available to produce and market these films." He added: "I am eager to expand our scope in the 3D business."

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A planned adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank" for Disney Pictures has been put into turnaround because it is "too dark" says The Wrap.

The article says provocateur playwright and filmmaker David Mamet ("Heist," "Spartan") was hired to pen the adaptation, but the script he turned in was not a retelling of the famous Holocaust drama taken from the diaries of Frank,

Instead Mamet delivered the story of a contemporary Jewish girl who goes to Israel and learns about the traumas of suicide bombing. The script apparently delivers a pro-Israeli exploration of modern anti-Semitism.

"It's very intense, and dark and scary. It's not a film version of 'The Diary of Anne Frank.' The story evolved into something more intense" says one insider, indicating the subject matter is too difficult for Disney to produce or distribute.

In the wake of chairman Dick Cook's sudden departure, the studio is unlikely to give the go-ahead on any projects in development until new management has been sorted out and settled.

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Sam Raimi is set to produce the supernatural horror film "Refuge" for Mandate Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter

The story takes place in a remote town that is terrorized by a Yeti, the mythological creature native to the mountains of the Himalayas.

Tom De Ville penned the script while British director Corin Hardy will helm.

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CBS Films has acquired Anthony Jaswinski's fast-paced thriller spec "Sleeper Spy" reports Variety.

The story centers around the plot to assassinate a political figure.

Jeff Wadlow ("Never Back Down") is set to direct. Arnold and Anne Kopelson will produce.

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The Human Centipede: First Sequence
(Netherlands)
By PETER DEBRUGE

   
A Six Entertainment production. Produced by Ilona Six, Tom Six. Executive producer, Ilona Six. Directed, written by Tom Six.

With: Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura, Andreas Leupold.
(English, German, Japanese dialogue)

What has 12 legs, three heads and a single digestive tract? The disagreeable creation at the center of Tom Six's "The Human Centipede: First Sequence," a beyond-twisted body horror experiment in which a mad surgeon, renowned for separating Siamese twins, kidnaps and conjoins three unlucky tourists mouth-to-anus for no reason other than to satisfy his own sadistic whims (and the morbid curiosity of a certain type of moviegoer). Only real payoff is seeing the monstrosity assembled, and though that will surely earn the Dutch writer-director a cult reputation on the genre circuit, "going there" does not a movie make.

Though Six's execution proves far less graphic than the mutilation depicted in so-called "torture porn," at least those controversial pics offer social commentary of some kind. By contrast, "Human Centipede" can't be bothered to expand upon its unpleasant premise, inviting auds to revel in its sick humor by favoring Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser, doing his best Udo Kier) and characterizing the victims as shallow expendables (reduced to acting with their eyes). Camera, sound and gore work meet today's horror standards, sure to impress those for whom empathy is no concern.


Camera (color, HD), Goof de Koning; music, Patrick Savage, Holeg Spies. Reviewed on DVD, Los Angeles, Sept. 29, 2009. (In Fantastic Fest, Austin.) Running time: 90 MIN.

[crippled_avenger]

The Human Centipede: First Sequence
(Netherlands)
By PETER DEBRUGE

   
A Six Entertainment production. Produced by Ilona Six, Tom Six. Executive producer, Ilona Six. Directed, written by Tom Six.

With: Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura, Andreas Leupold.
(English, German, Japanese dialogue)

What has 12 legs, three heads and a single digestive tract? The disagreeable creation at the center of Tom Six's "The Human Centipede: First Sequence," a beyond-twisted body horror experiment in which a mad surgeon, renowned for separating Siamese twins, kidnaps and conjoins three unlucky tourists mouth-to-anus for no reason other than to satisfy his own sadistic whims (and the morbid curiosity of a certain type of moviegoer). Only real payoff is seeing the monstrosity assembled, and though that will surely earn the Dutch writer-director a cult reputation on the genre circuit, "going there" does not a movie make.

Though Six's execution proves far less graphic than the mutilation depicted in so-called "torture porn," at least those controversial pics offer social commentary of some kind. By contrast, "Human Centipede" can't be bothered to expand upon its unpleasant premise, inviting auds to revel in its sick humor by favoring Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser, doing his best Udo Kier) and characterizing the victims as shallow expendables (reduced to acting with their eyes). Camera, sound and gore work meet today's horror standards, sure to impress those for whom empathy is no concern.


Camera (color, HD), Goof de Koning; music, Patrick Savage, Holeg Spies. Reviewed on DVD, Los Angeles, Sept. 29, 2009. (In Fantastic Fest, Austin.) Running time: 90 MIN.

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The Miracle
Chudo (Russia)
By RUSSELL EDWARDS
   
A Central Partnership presentation of an Amkart Studio production in association with the Russian Ministry of Culture. (International sales: Central Partnership, Moscow.) Produced by Ruben Dishdishyan, Aram Movsesyan, Sergey Danielyan, Yury Moroz. Directed by Alexander Proshkin. Screenplay, Yury Arabov.

With: Konstantin Khabensky, Polina Kutepova, Sergey Makovetsky, Maria Burova, Vitaly Kischenko, Anna Ukolova, Viktor Shamirov.

A question of faith prompts an existential and political crisis for Soviet bureaucrats in the evocative if occasionally sluggish Russian drama "The Miracle," from vet helmer Alexander Proshkin. Based on a real event that exists somewhere between conspiracy theory and urban myth, the story of a woman paralyzed by a religious icon is well known among Russian citizens of all ages and will appeal to a local arthouse niche. Abroad, the pic will appeal to fests slots with a Euro slant.

Set in 1956, in the fictional provincial city of Grechansk (the real event allegedly happened in Samara)the yarn unfolds during Nikita Khrushchev's reign, as the Soviet Union emerged from its most totalitarian and paranoid phase. At a latenight party, drunken reveler Zoya (Maria Burova) is stood up by her fiance; to compensate, she grabs an icon from the wall and dances with it. Without explanation, the still-breathing woman is frozen to the spot. Attempts to move Zoya from her house or to remove the icon from her grasp are made, to no avail.

Cynical Moscow journalist Nikolai Artemyev (an excellent Konstantin Khabensky of "Nightwatch" and "Daywatch") is sent by his editor to investigate. Though he's given the runaround by local bureaucrats, Artemyev realizes the rumored event is being suppressed by the Soviet government because the atheist state fears a religious revival.

The opening 45 minutes, which follow Artemyev's investigation, pack a strong sense of intrigue. When the journalist returns home to Moscow, other characters -- a priest (Viktor Shamirov) and a religious official (Proshkin regular Sergey Makovetsky, haunting) -- come to the fore. But then the film enters a sort of narrative limbo, as if waiting for Artemyev to reappear. He never does, and the pic never fully recovers. Both Shamirov and Makovetsky take turns at becoming the film's central focus, but neither emerges from the shadow of Khabensky's riveting perf.

While Russian auds will be familiar with the story, the disclosure that the pic is based on a true story is withheld until the end; revealing this at the film's outset would be more beneficial for international auds.

The film's dry wit is typified by a shot of a goldfish "watching" a TV broadcasting Khrushchev's "secret speech" denouncing the personality cult around Stalin. Helming by Proshkin ("Live and Remember," "The Captain's Daughter") is solid but hampered by some of the script's less convincing inventions, such as a coincidence linking the journalist and the frozen girl.

Lensing by father-son cinematography team Gennady and Alexander Karyuk catches the drab atmosphere of the times. Other tech credits meet Russian commercial standards.


Camera (color), Gennady Karyuk, Alexander Karyuk; art director, Ekaterina Tatarskaya; sound (Dolby Digital), Evgeny Slivchenko. Reviewed at Vladivostok Film Festival (opener), Sept. 19, 2009. (Also in Pusan Film Festival -- World Cinema; Moscow Film Festival.) Running time: 110 MIN.

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06 October 2009
Wahlberg For Reykjivik-Rotterdam
Remake of Icelandic thriller
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 


Mark Walhberg has signed up to star in a remake of an Icelandic film we haven't even seen yet, Reykjavik-Rotterdam, a thriller that's Iceland's submission to this year's Oscars. The remake's expected to relocate the action elsewhere, so be prepared for a possible title change there when this one becomes geographically misleading.

The film centres on Christopher (well, Kristófer really), a former alcohol smuggler (what with the price of booze in Iceland being crazy-high) turned security guard who is lured back into the business by a dubious friend after he gets himself into a financial pickle. But of course it's not that easy: cue involvement with a violent drug dealer and danger for Christopher's family as well as himself.

The original was directed by Óskar Jónasson, but this version will be directed by the star of the original, Baltasar Kormákur. Prisoners writer Aaron Guzikowski is on scripting duties, and will presumably be trying to figure out what else one can smuggle these days.

Helen O'Hara

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DreamWorks is revving up again on "Motorcade," setting as director Jon Cassar, best known as co-executive producer and a prolific helmer of the Fox TV drama "24."

The studio hopes to get the picture into production by late summer or early fall 2010, and DreamWorks is eyeing Ryan Reynolds to play the disgraced Secret Service agent who happens to be in the wrong place at the right time when the U.S. president is kidnapped in New York.

Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are producing.

Billy Ray continues to work on a script that was originated by Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell.

The drama has been a priority for DreamWorks and was one of the projects Tom Cruise seriously considered when "Live Free or Die Hard" helmer Len Wiseman was attached.

Reynolds, who will next star in the Martin Campbell-directed "Green Lantern" for Warner Bros. next spring, has not signed on at this point.

Though Cassar will be making his first big studio feature after a TV directing career, he's a strong match for the material. He directed 59 episodes of "24" and the spinoff telepic "24: Redemption" but left the show to pursue a feature career.

Paradigm reps Cassar.

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MORELIA, Mexico -- With the press tour for "Inglourious Basterds" winding down, star Eli Roth is switching gears as he readies the push for Louisiana exorcism pic "Cotton" and hammers out the script for his first sci-fi venture -- "Endangered Species."

Speaking at Mexico's Morelia Film Festival, Roth said he will be showing "Cotton" to Sundance in "a couple of weeks" with hopes of preeming it there in January. Roth produced pic with Strike Entertainment and director Daniel Stamm.

With plans to finish the script for "Species" in October, the no-holds-barred horror helmer is also penning "Thanksgiving," a film whose faux trailer appeared in Quentin Tarantino's "Grindhouse."

Ideally, Roth would like to shoot both back to back.

At the moment, however, "Endangered Species" comes first. As writer, director and producer, Roth is keeping the plot of "Species" hush- hush for now. Roth stressed that he does not plan on reusing actors and that the only thing in common for the two will be his "sick sense of humor."

"I haven't been this excited about an idea since the first 'Hostel,' " said Roth, referring to his breakout hit as director.

However, he added that he ran the script by Tarantino for notes. "Quentin is the greatest story editor you could have, and I trust him implicitly," he said.

Roth is making "Species" with Eric Newman ("Children of Men") and their shingle Arcade.

Newman and Roth are also developing a script with hip-hopper RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan for the rapper's first foray into cinema -- kung fu pic "The Man With the Iron Fist."

"He's been studying directing under Quentin pretty intensely," he added. "He's definitely ready."

Noting "a lot of interest" in the project, Roth said he's waiting for the script to be "100%" before shopping it around.

The scary movie man also noted that while a third "Hostel" pic is underway, he is not involved in any way.

"I'll be as surprised by it as everyone else," said Roth.

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Warner Bros. has set RZA to star alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis in "Due Date," the Todd Phillips-directed comedy.

RZA joins a cast that also includes Michelle Monaghan and Jamie Foxx in the story of a man with a mismatched travel companion who races home in hopes of arriving before his wife delivers their first child.

Phillips is producing through his Green Hat banner with Daniel Goldberg. Scott Budnick is exec producer. WB is partnered with Legendary Pictures on the film, and Susan Downey is exec producing.

RZA's also attached to Paul Haggis' "The Next Three Days" for Lionsgate and is scoring producer Robbie Brenner's film "Warriors Way" for Relativity Media. Feature credits include "Funny People" and "American Gangster"; he's also the creator-producer of the Wu-Tang Clan and has scored music for films by Ridley Scott, Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino.

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In a surprise, Adrien Brody has been set by 20th Century Fox to play the heroic mercenary who battles alien hunters in "Predators," the reinvention of the "Predator" franchise that is being creatively spearheaded by Robert Rodriguez.

Brody will star with Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali and Louiz Ozawa.

Nimrod Antal is directing the film, production of which is about to get under way on location in Hawaii and at Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas. Fox has set "Predators" for release on July 9, 2010.

Though best known for his Oscar-winning turn in the Roman Polanski-directed "The Pianist," Brody is playing a character close to the one that Arnold Schwarzenegger did in the 1987 original. He's a mercenary who tries to keep his team alive when its members are hunted by the aliens.

Fox has high hopes to spring a new franchise, and Brody has signed options to return for future installments, sources said.

Brody and his Paradigm reps lobbied hard for the role, which is his first action hero turn.

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Former Aussie soap actress Isla Fisher ("Confessions of a Shopaholic," "Wedding Crashers") is getting two films turned into star vehicles for her at Universal Pictures says Variety.

The first is "Life Coach", a comedy about a young woman who consults a life coach who turns out to be messed up. Liz Cackowski and Maggie Carey are writing the script. Fisher will also produce.

The second is an untitled romantic comedy based on a French script called "Un Jour mes princes viendront" (One Day My Princes Will Come). Audrey Wells ("Under the Tuscan Sun") will adapt that script.

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New Line is going on a "Vacation."

The Warner Bros. division is developing a sequel of sorts to the 1983 comedy classic, with David Dobkin attached to produce and possibly direct. 

New Line is meeting with writers to write the script but the take is already developed: the story focuses on Rusty Griswold, the son of Clark Griswold, the protagonist of the initial movies and portrayed by Chevy Chase. The younger Griswold is now a father in his own right and takes his family on a road trip vacation.



The characters would acknowledge that first trip, making the movie more of a sequel than a reboot. Chase and Beverly D'Angelo, who played the mom in the original movies, will have room to make appearances as grandparents, providing a sense of continuity, though no deals are in place.

The original "Vacation" is a Warner Bros. property but as soon as New Line became part of the studio, exec Sam Brown began sifting through the parent company's titles to see what was available in terms of rights. He eventually found "Vacation," a movie he has watched more than any other in his life, and brought it to New Line president Toby Emmerich and production president Richard Brener, who jumped at the possibilities. The duo asked Warner brass if it had any plans with the title. It did not and the New Line execs persuaded the brass to let them take a crack at it. Brown is shepherding for New Line.

National Lampoon is not involved at this stage, as Warners controls the characters and the title.

New Line is taking meetings with writers this week, hoping to make a movie that skews more towards "Planes Trains and Automobiles" or "Little Miss Sunshine" than "RV" or "Are We There Yet?"

"Vacation" brings CAA-repped Dobkin back in business with New Line, for whom he directed and produced "Wedding Crashers."

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Marlon Wayans is in advanced talks to play comedy icon Richard Pryor in "Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?" for Happy Madison Productions and Sony Pictures reports Entertainment Weekly.

The $20 million production depicts Pryor's controversial brand of comedy and his battle with drugs.

Wayans beat out Eddie Murphy who was originally attached to star. "Dreamgirls" and "Gods & Monsters" writer/director Bill Condon will pen the script and direct.

Chris Rock, Jennifer Lee Pryor and Mark Gordon will produce.

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David Tennant (TV's "Doctor Who") and Simon Pegg ("Star Trek," 'Shaun of the Dead") are teaming for the lead roles in the period comedy "Burke and Hare" for Ealing Studios according to an announcement at the Spooky Empire convention this weekend in Florida reports Bloody Disgusting.

Based on the true story about the famous graverobbers, 'Burke And Hare' follows the hapless exploits of two men (Pegg as Burke, Tennant as Hare) as they fall into the highly profitable business of providing cadavers for the medical fraternity in 19th Century Edinburgh, then the centre of medical learning which was always short of bodies.

In real life the case became known as the West Port murders. Hare's wife ran a lodging house where Burke stayed and whenever a patron looked to be on their death bed they would accelerate the process.

Legendary "An American Werewolf in London," "Animal House" and "Coming to America" Director John Landis will helm the project, his first narrative feature film since 1998's "Susan's Plan".

"St. Trinian's" scribes Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft penned the script, Tennant himself just wrapped his first post-'Who' role as the villain in the "St. Trinian's" sequel which the pair also penned.

Pegg appeared on "Doctor Who" in the first year of its relaunch in 2005 when Christopher Eccleston played the titular Time Lord. Tennant's stint in the role didn't begin until later that year.

[Milosh]

Vern kaže da je WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE masterpiece: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42677

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Vernov problem je u tome što pada na imena iz art-house establišmenta. Koliko god bio super u reafirmaciji B-likova, toliko je konvencionalan kad je reč o "eliti"...

[Milosh]

Ali za razliku od ostatka AICN ekipe i sl. ume to uvek lepo da argumentuje, složio se sa njim ili ne...

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Pa da, ali je problem što svoju sposobnost argumentacije koristi za nešto u šta ne može da me ubedi. Ne govorim konkretno o WHERE THE WILD THINGS, nego mi je prosto neverovatno da neko sa tako istančanim DTV ukusom istovremeno ima tako strejt ukus kad je "ozbiljan" film u pitanju.

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In a deal valued close to $2 million, Paramount has acquired an untitled feature pitch from scribes Aline Brosh McKenna and Simon Kinberg.

J.J. Abrams will produce with Bryan Burk through their Bad Robot banner.

Par's pricey purchase comes at a time when most other studios have shut down development spending for the rest of the year. Paramount got first crack at the material through its first-look deal with Bad Robot, which honed the pitch with the scribes.

Paramount Film Group prexy Adam Goodman and exec veep Marc Evans took it off the table in a deal that closed Friday evening. Sherryl Clark, Bad Robot's film chief, will exec produce. Lindsay Paulson is an associate producer.

Neither Par nor Bad Robot would disclose the plot, or how the different sensibilities of the writers will mesh.

McKenna is known for female-driven fare including "The Devil Wears Prada," "27 Dresses" and the upcoming Bad Robot-produced "Morning Glory." Kinberg has an action-drama sensibility evident in the upcoming "Sherlock Holmes" and such pics as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "X-Men: The Last Stand."

"These two writers couldn't be more different, the genres they write seem almost diametrically opposed,' said Abrams. "But they came to Bad Robot with a pitch that thrilled us. We feel extremely lucky to get to work with this amazing team."

The two scribes are friends who recently worked together on a production rewrite of Fox's "Date Night," starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey.

Bad Robot continues to develop into an increasingly important supplier of pictures for Paramount. Aside from the Roger Michell-directed "Morning Glory" -- which stars Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton -- Abrams, Burke and Tom Cruise are producing a fourth installment of "Mission: Impossible" that the studio hopes to put into production next year.

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The Playlist reports that before he gets to work on the script for the "Spider-Man" spin-off feature "Venom", director Gary Ross is tackling a different kind of hero - swinging spy Matt Helm for Paramount Pictures.

Paul Attanasio ("Donnie Brasco") penned the latest draft of the script which Steven Spielberg considered directing but opted instead for the "Harvey" remake. Paramount is keen to have a Bond/Bourne style spy franchise of their own and have reportedly set Ross to direct the project.

Donald Hamilton penned the book series beginning in 1960 which wasn't about a spy but rather a spyhunter, a man with the primary job of assassinating enemy agents.

The properties were previously adapted into three movies in the mid-to-late 1960s starring Dean Martin that bared little relation to the novels, serving more as a satire of the then immensely popular and still young James Bond film series.

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Gus Van Sant and author Bret Easton Ellis will team to write a feature about the double suicide of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake.

PalmStar Entertainment, Celluloid Dreams and K5 Film have acquired screen rights to "The Golden Suicides," a Vanity Fair article written by Nancy Jo Sales.

Van Sant, who helmed "Milk" and is prepping the Columbia Pictures drama "Restless," is involved only as writer at this point.

Ithaka Entertainment's Braxton Pope will produce with PalmStar's Kevin Frakes and Celluloid Dreams' Hengameh Panahi.

Duncan and Blake formed a popular couple on the downtown New York and Venice, Calif., art scenes. She was one of the first videogame designers for girls, and his "digital paintings" -- kaleidoscopic images shown on plasma screens -- established him as a rising star on the circuit.

The couple descended into a paranoid spiral when the artists developed a consuming belief that government and religious organizations were conspiring against them. She killed herself in 2007. Blake found her body on the floor of their bedroom, and walked into the Atlantic Ocean a week later, ending his life.

Patrick Siaretta, Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur will be exec producers, and Courtney Andrialis is co-producer.

[Milosh]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhHL3lhBn5A

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David Schwimmer will direct Clive Owen and Catherine Keener in "Trust," a dark drama about the damaging effects an online sexual predator has on a family. Millennium Films will produce and finance.

Schwimmer, who previously directed the laffer "Run Fat Boy Run" and co-directed HBO's "Little Britain USA" series, wrote the story for the drama, and Andy Bellin wrote the script.

Owen and Keener will play the parents of a 14-year-old girl who are stunned to discover she has been victimized by an adult who gained her trust posing as a teenager on a chat room. Newcomer Liana Liberato will play the daughter.

Millennium's Avi Lerner will produce with Heidi Jo Markel and Bob Greenhut. Exec producers are Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, Schwimmer and Tom Hodges.

Shooting begins Nov. 9 in Michigan.

Owen just opened in "The Boys Are Back" and Keener's latest, "Where the Wild Things Are," opens Friday.

[Usul]

Boogie The Movie ( Boogie el aceitoso ) po stripu argentinskog autora Roberta Fontanarose

A cold blooded and and ruthless hit-man. Always on the run. Boogie follows his own rules.  A violent, chauvinist and sadistic character starring in a film that features a story line, music and images targeted to teen and adult audience. Women, alcohol and bullets it has it all.


Trailer

Boogie The Movie - Based on the work of the great Fontanarrosa -


Oficijelna strana

http://www.boogielapelicula.com/eng/index_eng.html

Premijera je danas u Buenos Airesu. Cim prije idem da pogledam ovaj film koji obecava  nasilje na nivou najkrvavijih anime ostvarenja.

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Reynoldsflem1_real In the third big money pitch deal this week, Working Title paid high six figures against seven figures for an untitled concept comedy that Allan Loeb will write as a star vehicle for Ryan Reynolds.

Working Title bought the project out of its discretionary fund, in a bidding battle with several companies that included Neal Moritz's Original Film and New Regency. All used discretionary fund money, which is likely to fuel most of the sales through year's end, as studios cut back on project spends.

Pic is described as a dude-in-drag romantic comedy, with Reynolds playing a jilted lover who must disguise himself as a woman and befriend his ex in order to win her back.

Working Title partners Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan will produce along with Jonathon Komack Martin (Reynolds' partner in Dark Trick Films) and Steven Pearl (Loeb's partner in Scarlett Fire). Working Title has a first look deal with Universal.

Liza Chasin will be executive producer along with Reynolds and Loeb.

This follows Disney's $900,000 against $1.6 million for "What's He Got?," a Kevin Bisch-scripted comedy that has Josh Duhamel attached to star and Walt Becker to direct. Paramount paid around $2 million for an untitled pitch that "The Devil Wears Prada" scribe Aline Brosh McKenna and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" scribe Simon Kinberg will write, with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot banner producing.

Reynolds, who had a strong summer with "Wolverine" and "The Proposal," next stars in the Martin Campbell-directed "Green Lantern" for Warner Bros. Loeb's most recent script work is "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps," and the Jennifer Aniston-starrer "The Baster."

Reynolds is repped by UTA, Loeb by CAA.

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Mike Mitchell ("Sky High," "Surviving Christmas") is set to direct the supernatural action comedy "Monster Squad" for Warner Bros. Pictures says the trades.

Despite the title, this is not a remake of the classic 1987 family film but the new name for Brian Lynch's 2000 spec script "Nightcrawlers".

Brad Copeland ("Yogi Bear") penned the most recent draft which centers on a neurotic father who must turn to a childhood tormentor to face his lifelong fear of the dark and the monsters who have haunted him.

Filming kicks off next Summer. Chris Bender, J.C. Spink, Jonathan Shestack and Donald De Line are producing.

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"The Lives of Others" Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is tipped to direct the upcoming thriller "The Tourist" for Spyglass Entertainment and StudioCanal says Variety.

A remake of 2005 French thriller "Anthony Zimmer", the story follows an American tourist (Sam Worthington) finds his life in danger when a female Interpol agent (Angelina Jolie) uses him as a dupe to flush out an elusive criminal with whom she once had an affair.

Julian Fellowes penned the adaptation which was polished by Christopher McQuarrie. Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman are producing.

Filming kicks off in February for release in 2011.

[crippled_avenger]

Američki glumac Sem Šepard i njegov španski kolega Eduardo Norijega igraće u vesternu "Blackthorn" čije će snimanje početi iduće godine u Boliviji

Film je priča o američkom uzgajivaču konja koji se iz Bolivije (Šepard) vraća u SAD. Na putu ka domovini sprijateljuje se sa mladim španskim inženjerom optuženim za pljačku rudnika (Norijega).

"Blackthorn" će režirati španski reditelj i scenarista Mateo Gil, koji je autor scenarija za film "Agora" Alehandra Amenabara.

Beta

[crippled_avenger]

Ridley Scott is in discussions with Angelina Jolie for a femme fatale role in "Gucci," a drama about murder and decadence in the Gucci fashion dynasty.

Fox 2000 is fashioning a 2010 start date for the film, and Scott is talking with Jolie to play Patrizia Reggiano, who was sentenced to 29 years in jail for plotting the murder of her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci.

Pic is a priority for Fox 2000's Elizabeth Gabler and Carla Hacken, with Scott Free and Giannina Facio producing.

The studio is about to hire a scribe to rewrite the drama that recaptures the glamorous days of the Gucci family dynasty in the 1970s and '80s, when the family was selling $500 million in product annually. Squabbles hobbled the clan until Maurizio, the grandson of founder Guccio Gucci, came out on top of a power struggle to run the family business. Just when he was about to reestablish the brand name by debuting a line designed by newcomer -- and now film director -- Tom Ford, Maurizio was gunned down in front of his Milan apartment in 1995.

There are moving pieces in the film, as the script is still being developed and Scott needs to lock down an actor to play Maurizio. The director has approached his "Body of Lies" star Leonardo DiCaprio, but he is not attached at this point.

"Gucci" becomes the second big project at Fox 2000 for Jolie. The studio is developing the Patricia Cornwell novel series about medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta for Jolie to play the lead role in a film produced by Mark Gordon and Geyer Kosinski.

As for Jolie, she is likely to next star with Sam Worthington in "The Tourist," the Spyglass thriller that has Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck in line to direct. Pending a deal with the director, the hope is to begin production early next year.

Scott is in post-production with the Russell Crowe-Cate Blanchett starrer "Robin Hood" for Universal Pictures and Imagine.

[crippled_avenger]

Vancouver
Ninja Assassin
By ROB NELSON

   
A Warner Bros. release, presented in association with Legendary Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment, of a Silver Pictures production, in association with Anarchos Prods. Produced by Joel Silver, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Grant Hill. Executive producers, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Steve Richards. Directed by James McTeigue. Screenplay, Matthew Sand, J. Michael Straczynski, from a story by Sand.

Raizo - Rain
Mika Coretti - Naomie Harris
Ryan Maslow - Ben Miles
Takeshi - Rick Yune
Lord Ozunu - Sho Kosugi
Europol Agent - Guido Foehrweisser
Kingpin - Stephen Marcus
Aleksei Sabatin - Wladimir Tarasjanz
Tattoo Master - Randall Duk Kim
Hollywood - Sung Kang

Seemingly made to capitalize on a dubious CG innovation -- namely, the slicing of bodies in half by whizzing five-pointed stars -- "Ninja Assassin" has little else to recommend it, not even laughs. Working again with the Wachowski brothers as producers, director James McTeigue delivers a lower-brow, somewhat livelier work than the team's "V for Vendetta." But unless the viewer is easily delighted by ultraviolence for its own sake, this thinly plotted movie about a young ninja's revenge against his cruel trainers will disappoint. Warner Bros.' Nov. 25 release should nonetheless prove effective as holiday-season counterprogramming, at least in the short term.

Korean pop star Rain conjures only a mild drizzle as Raizo, a limber bone-snapper trained from a young age by a secret society of child-abducting killer-for-hire ninjas. Early flashbacks reveal Raizo to have been taken in as an orphan by the Ozunu Clan, which he defies by running away in the wake of his sweetheart's murder by cold-blooded Lord Ozunu (Sho Kosugi).

The pic's present-day action, set in Berlin, revolves around Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris), a gorgeous Europol agent whose latenight sleuthing uncovers a financial connection between recent political assassinations and the Ozunu. Naturally, the agent herself is targeted for assassination, as chief Ozunu baddie Takeshi (Rick Yune) and his blade-tossing ninja comrades come West to forcibly halt the investigation. As if possessed of psychic powers, Raizo, hiding out in Europe, senses a chance to save a lovely lady where he had failed in the same task years before.

Eventually the film leads to a Europol-led shootout and a pair of unmemorably acrobatic duels between Raizo and his two archrivals -- "older brother" Takeshi and raspy-voiced "father" Ozunu.

Though "Ninja Assassin" is implausible on countless levels, Raizo's training to feel nothing at least gels with Rain's ability to emote nothing. Harris, a strong presence in Michael Mann's "Miami Vice" feature, acquits herself capably here, reacting believably to the incessant carnage around her.

Of course, the film's raison d'etre is precisely its blood-soaked combination of physical stunts and digital trickery, the latter favored to a fault. While not remotely on par with the Wachowskis' "bullet time" f/x in "The Matrix," the ridiculous torrent of flying blades and flayed flesh here does appear unique in technological terms, and certainly pushes the pic's R rating to its limits.

Indeed, such is the film's level of insinuated gore that the frustratingly dark texture of many fight-scene shots can perhaps be explained by a post-production bid to avoid an NC-17. Whatever the case, the shadowy action is too often incomprehensible, except in the general sense that heads, limbs and torsos are being severed in massive numbers.

If there's a sick joke to be had from this sort of human meat-carving, it isn't found by McTeigue and his key collaborators, including conventionally quick-cutting editors Gian Ganziano and Joseph Jett Sally.

Where the pic does excel is in its immersive sound design, as swords, chains and myriad other weapons seem to sail around the theater, at times helping to clarify the dimly lit action.

Camera (color/B&W, widescreen), Karl Walter Lindenlaub; editors, Gian Ganziano, Joseph Jett Sally; music, Ilan Eshkeri; production designer, Graham "Grace" Walker; supervising art director, Sebastian T. Krawinkel; set decorator, Peter Walpole; costume designer, Carlo Poggioli; sound (Dolby/DTS/SDDS), Ivan Sharrock; supervising sound editor, Eric Lindemann; visual effects supervisors, Chas Jarrett, Dan Glass, Jeppe N. Christensen, Bjorn Mayer, Matt McDonald, Christopher Townsend; special effects supervisor, Uli Nefzer; stunt coordinators, Chad Stahelski, Noon Orsatti; fight choreographers, Jon Valera, Peng Zhang; assistant director, Terry Needham; casting, Lucinda Syson. MPAA rating: R. Reviewed at Vancouver Film Festival (Special Presentations), Oct. 13, 2009. (Also in Fantastic Fest, Austin.) MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 99 MIN.

[crippled_avenger]

Headhunter
20 October, 2009 | By Fionnuala Halligan


Dir/scr. Rumle Hammerich. Denmark, 2009. 100 mins.


Stylish, noirish, Danish: this slickly atmospheric corporate thriller features a taut performance from Lars Mikkelsen – older brother, by a year, of Mads – as an investigative-reporter-turned-headhunter out of his depth in the high-stakes world of boardroom intrigue. A hit at home in Denmark with $2.2m in eight weeks, this would shout 'remake' if Michael Clayton hadn't gotten there first, but there's enough to recommend this smart genre effort as it stands.

Hammerich has created two challenging men who want to cut their "weak" offspring loose
It's Hammerich's moody visualisation of his own screenplay that marks Headhunter out; the plot is deft enough but holds little new for genre fans. Mikkelsen's watchable turn, a jazzy score, a watery Copenhagen lensed in icy blues and grays: in this company, 100 minutes trips by very nicely. It may not be deep enough for the art-house crowd, but there's nothing to stop Headhunter emerging as a more commercial 'discovery'. Crime sophisticates, well used by now to trickery and sexed-up shocks-that-aren't, could respond well to this old-fashioned thriller. And how can you resist a fight entirely staged and shot inside a wardrobe?

In docklands Copenhagen, Marten Vinge (Mikkelson) is a former reporter now working as a headhunter for major multi-nationals. He's all sharp corners and smooth façade, sleeping with a former, married colleague and trying to give his desperately-ill son Jakob up for adoption. He's a hollow soul, in other words, ripe for the picking by the head of Denmark's Sieger Group – "bigger than Microsoft" – who is looking to oust his own son in a bitter boardroom battle.

"I need someone who knows the new morality," says old man Niels Sieger (Henning Moritzen), dismissing his son Daniel's (Flemming Enevold) chances in the succession battle a week before a vital board meeting.

Fired up by the challenge, Marten starts to source candidates at the same time as his son is suddenly, miraculously, being considered for revolutionary new surgery. He has compromised himself, and it doesn't take long for the screw to be turned.

Hammerich has created two challenging men who want to cut their "weak" offspring loose, an interesting interplay on the "fathers and sons" theme which he largely sustains throughout.

Production standards are high for what cannot have been a generously-budgeted film; Hammerich masters his team to deliver a mood of stylish angst set in bare boardrooms and sparsely decorated homes. Water follows our principal wherever he goes, from Sieger Headquarters, where he is given office space, to the country house of Old Man Sieger, where he is an unwelcome guest. It's a chilly world, against a deliciously jazzy score.

Mikkelsen appears in almost every scene, and is more than capable throughout. Whether it's waxy-faced shock or barely-lidded emotion, his is a face to watch. It evidently runs in the family.

[crippled_avenger]

LONDON -- Protagonist Pictures has acquired international rights to British helmer Jonathan Lynn's laffer "Wild Target."

Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint and Rupert Everett all star in the project, about a beautiful con artist who finds herself pursued by a top assassin after scamming a gangster.

Pic is a remake of Gallic helmer Pierre Salvadori's "Cible emouvante."

Martin Pope and Michael Rose of Magic Light Pictures are producing, with Lucinda Coxon penning the script.

Cinetic is handling sales of the North American rights.

[Milosh]

Bronson kao novi Mad Max?

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42804

[Milosh]

Kejdž i njegova perika ponovo u akciji!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42802

[crippled_avenger]

Bilo bi zaista strašno da Hardy bude MAX. Nadam se da ovaj film neće biti ni snimljen ili da će se bar Miller predomisliti...

[crippled_avenger]

I Come With the Rain
(France-Spain-Hong Kong-Ireland)
By DEREK ELLEY

   
A Central Films presentation of a TF1 Intl., Lumiere Intl., Studio Canal (France)/Morena Films (Spain)/Better Wide (Hong Kong)/LeBrocquy Fraser Prods. (Ireland) production. (International sales: TF1 Intl., Paris.) Produced by Fernando Sulichin, Jean Cazes, Jean-Pierre Marois. Executive producers, Simon Fawcett, Alvaro Longoria, Julie le Brocquy. Directed, written by Tran Anh Hung.

With: Josh Hartnett, Tran Nu Yenkhe, Lee Byung-hun, Takuya Kimura, Shawn Yue, Elias Koteas, David Tang, Eusebio Poncela, William Chow, Tze Ho, Ricky Chan, Sam Lee.
(English dialogue)

Shot two years ago, largely in the Philippines and Hong Kong, and finally preemed in Japan this summer, Josh Hartnett starrer "I Come With the Rain" staggers onto the screen looking as bloody and bruised as many of its protags. Frequently incoherent and often repulsively violent drama, centered on an American private investigator on the trail of a wacko gone AWOL in the Far East, reps a career misstep by Hartnett in his first international production. Luckily for him, the English-lingo pic is virtually unreleasable in major western territories, except as a DVD curio.

On the strength of thesp Takuya Kimura's name, the film did so-so biz in Japan in June, but even with the popularity of co-star Lee Byung-hun ("G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," "The Good the Bad the Weird"), the pic opened softly in South Korea Oct. 15. At the Pusan fest screening caught, even some violence-inured Korean auds headed for the exit midway through.

"Rain" is the first feature in nine years by Paris-based, Vietnamese-born auteur Tran Anh Hung, responsible for such delicate fare as "The Scent of Green Papaya" and "The Vertical Ray of the Sun." Tran surprised everyone more than a decade ago with "Cyclo," a violent descent into criminal hell by a Saigon bicycle-taxi driver; "Rain" has the same theme and ambience, but this time injected into a story with no redeeming artistry or even basic storytelling smarts.

Pic opens with a sequence of L.A. cop Kline (Hartnett) hunting down a sick serial killer, Hasford (Elias Koteas), that's expanded in memory flashes throughout the movie. Cut to two years later, and the still-traumatized Kline, now a PI, is hired by a pharmaceuticals billionaire to find his son, Shitao (Kimura), who's disappeared in Mindanao, Philippines.

In Mindanao, Kline is told by Vargas (Eusebio Poncela), an investigator previously hired by the billionaire, that Shitao may now be in Hong Kong. Hotfooting it to Kowloon, Kline looks up cop pal Meng Zi (Shawn Yue) for help.

Already rife with coincidences, the storyline becomes particularly fuzzy as Shitao is shown living in a grass hut where he performs miracles on tortured souls, bleeding from stigmata as he absorbs their pain. Turns out Shitao has even more pain in store when Lili (Tran Nu Yenkhe, the helmer's wife, who has appeared in all his pics), the druggie g.f. of psycho gangster Su Dongpo (Lee), ends up in his hut.

With all its imagery of physical pain, mental scarring and Christ-like suffering and crucifixion, the pic makes for deeply unpleasant viewing, to little conceivable point. (One chaotic montage sequence halfway through plays like some kind of retro LSD trip.) Second half is almost impossible to follow logically, and not helped by laughable cameos, including Hong Kong thesp Sam Lee as a mad evangelist.

Coda, which returns to the story of Kline and the crazed Hasford, piles on the sick psycho-horror to numbing effect.

With the flashiest role, Lee steals the movie as the sadistic Su, though it's a perf the South Korean thesp can almost phone in nowadays. Clean-cut Hartnett simply looks bemused, and Koteas comes close to hamming.

Widescreen lensing by Basque-born d.p. Juan Ruiz-Anchia is soaked in saturated colors but lacks any visual consistency.

Camera (color, Panavision widescreen, DV-to-35mm), Juan Ruiz-Anchia; editor, Mario Battistel; consulting editor, Lynzee Klingman; music, Gustavo Santaolalla; production designer, Benoit Barouh; art director, Devi Tirouvanziam; costume designer, Judy Shrewsbury; sound (Dolby Digital), Antonio Bloch, Gabriel Gutierrez; visual effects supervisor, Jordi San Agustin; special effects makeup, Olivier Afonso; stunt coordinator, Bruce Law; assistant directors, George Every, Johnnie Kong. Reviewed at Pusan Film Festival (Gala Presentations), Oct. 13, 2009. Running time: 115 MIN.

[crippled_avenger]

DreamWorks has tapped scribe Laeta Kalogridis to adapt  the Japanese manga property "Ghost in the Shell."

DreamWorks is making the futuristic police thriller as a 3D live-action film.

Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul of Seaside Entertainment are attached to produce and originally brought the project to DreamWorks.

Created by Masamune Shirow, "Ghost in the Shell" was first published in 1989. It went on to generate two more manga editions, three anime film adaptations and an anime TV series. The second anime film, "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence," was released in the U.S. by DreamWorks in 2004.

Jamie Moss was the original writer hired when DreamWorks bought the property last year.

Kalogridis wrote and exec produced Martin Scorsese's upcoming thriller "Shutter Island," which stars Leonardo DiCaprio.

[Le Samourai]

Uuuu, Laeta je takav treshmajster (u najnegativnijem smislu) da ovo takoreci nema shanse da uspe.

[Meho Krljic]

Pogotovo jer su Anime adaptacije GITS (Bioskopske, ne one serijalne) bile jako arty. Slutim da će ovo biti više.. akciono.

[crippled_avenger]

On the eve of the AFM, ContentFilm International has taken worldwide sales rights to action thriller The Fallout to be directed by Xavier Gens (Hitman). The film is due is due to start principal photography in Feb 2010 in Eastern Europe.


The Fallout, set in a post-apocalyptic New York, is produced by Ross Dinerstein (The Killing Room, Powder Blue, Unknown), Darryn Welch (Goal! The Dream Begins,The Bang Bang Club, Stag Night), and Tony Krantz (24, Mulholland Drive) and was written by Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean who will also co produce.It is billed as "a thriller that combines elements of'Assault on Precinct 13 with Lord of the Flies in a story of survival."

'"Xavier's vision for this film is extraordinary. He brings a visual edge to this fascinating exploration of the human condition," commented producer Ross Dinerstein.

"With a collective of 'End of the World' movies hitting the theatres presently, this film will undoubtedly stand out like a ravenous Pit bull in a school playground... brace yourselves cause this film has a serious bite to it!" said Producer Darryn Welch.

CFI's Carmichael added: 'Xavier is a super talented, commercial filmmaker and he's a perfect match for this terrifying material. It's going to be a very stylish genre film and we're extremely excited to be working with him, Ross and Darryn.'

[crippled_avenger]

Yoga
(South Korea)
By DEREK ELLEY
Go Fandango!    
A Sidus release of a United Pictures presentation of an Opus Pictures production. (International sales: United Pictures, Seoul.) Produced by Lee Tae-hyeon. Executive producers, Lee, Shim Bo-gyeong, Eugene Lee. Directed, written by Yoon Jae-yeon.

With: Eugene, Cha Su-yeon, Jo Eun-ji, Park Han-byeol, Kim Hye-na, Lee Yeong-jin, Hwang Seung-eon, Lee Hye-sang, Daniel Choi.

A creepy private institute for physical meditation becomes a ghostly slaughterhouse in "Yoga." Second feature by writer-director Yoon Jae-yeon delivers the goods much more effectively than her 2003 "Wishing Stairs" (the weakest of the "Whispering Corridors" quintet), though the script is equally wobbly. Still, fantasy fests will sign up, as well as some offshore DVD labels.

In a South Korean context, the pic plays as a genre take on the country's obsession with perfect looks -- as did Kim Ki-duk's artier "Time." Ambitious home-shopping TV hostess Hyo-jeong (Eugene, aka Yu Jin), replaced by a younger presenter, joins a yoga school run by a coldly beautiful ex-actress (Lee Hye-sang) that promises, per weirdo course leader Na-ni (Cha Su-yeon), immortal beauty to the survivor. Also on hand are a scatty pop singer (Park Han-byeol), a divorcee with a nose job (Kim Hye-na), a food obsessive (Jo Eun-ji) and a quiet mouse (Hwang Seung-eon). Soon, the women are dying in horrible ways. Shot in musty, dank colors, the pic keeps the scares coming, though working out the plot (which hangs on a film-studio death 30 years earlier) will tax auds worried about logic.

Camera (color, widescreen), Seong Sung-baek; editor, Lee Do-hyeon; music, Choi Sung-hyeon; art director, Lee Ha-jun. Reviewed on DVD, London, Oct. 23, 2009. (In Pusan Film Festival -- market.) Original title: Yoga hakweon. Running time: 97 MIN.

[crippled_avenger]

Possessed
Bulshin jiok (South Korea)
By DEREK ELLEY

   
A Showbox/Mediaplex release of a Sovik Venture Capital, DCG Plus presentation of an Achim Pictures production, in association with Tiger Pictures. (International sales: Showbox, Seoul.) Produced by Kim Sang-ho. Executive producers, Jo Cheol-hyeon, Jeong Seung-hye, Lee Jeong-se. Directed, written by Lee Yong-ju.

With: Nam Sang-mi, Ryu Seung-ryong, Kim Bo-yeon, Shim Eun-gyeong, Mun Heui-gyeong, Jang Yeong-nam, Lee Chang-jin, Oh Ji-eun, Shin Eun-jeong, Kim Yu-jeong.

Though still identifiably K-horror in feel and in its social themes, "Possessed" plays withthe genre in a refreshing way. Low-key drama of a young woman trying to solve the disappearance of her younger sister, who appears to have been taken over by dark forces, surprisingly showed up at no summer or fall fests, and tanked locally in August despite positive reviews. A natural for fantasy events, this has offshore cable and ancillary potential, despite its no-name cast and modest production values.

Pic notably avoids almost every embedded cliche of Korean horror, such as girls' school settings and demonic gazes through long hair. Though it has some well-judged shocks, especially one in the second reel, it doesn't rely on either moody lensing or outre violence for effect.

Frosh writer-director Lee Yong-ju was an assistant director on Bong Joon-ho's "Memories of Murder," and there's some of the same feeling of quotidian horror in "Possessed." A closer European parallel would be Hans-Christian Schmid's "Requiem," which also didn't provide neat answers, qualifying more as drama than genre exercise.

The movie's freshness partly stems from its mingling of evangelical Christianity, shamanism and even atheism, and the way it shows how these beliefs (or non-beliefs) become blurred when confronted with the same problem. The pic works especially well in its South Korean setting, as evangelical Christianity is particularly strong there.

Nam Sang-mi, previously just a pretty support in comedies like "Spy Girl" and "She's on Duty," is considerably deglammed as Kang Heui-jin, who's suddenly called by her mother (Kim Bo-yeon) with the news that her 13-year-old sister, So-jin (Shim Eun-gyeong), has vanished. Mom, who thinks hell is just around the corner for nonbelievers like Heui-jin, is half-coherent at best, so Heui-jin, still weak from a fever she can't shake, visits the family apartment (bedecked with crosses) to help out.

While there, she's visited by a gruff cop, Tae-hwan (Ryu Seung-ryong), who tries to shrug off the case until Heui-jin rails at his uselessness. As the two question others on the block -- including a shaman (Mun Heui-gyeong) and a nutty security guard (Lee Chang-jin) -- a weird community of differing persuasions is revealed, as well as a backstory involving multiple deaths, starting with So-jin's friend, Jeong-mi (Oh Ji-eun).

The mystery of So-jin's disappearance becomes less important than the clashes of faith as the pic progresses, with everyone having taken advantage of So-jin for their own ends. As Heui-jin becomes progressively more spooked out, the cop comes to rep the voice of practicality and reason, though even he is prone to superstition.

Lee's script is a bit fuzzy at the edges and tends to throw ideas at the viewer rather than mold them into a dramatic unity. The finale doesn't have quite the power it should, as it essentially repeats ideas already spelled out earlier, but overall, the film has a moody, slow-burning quality that's involving.

For a movie more about Heui-jin than her absent sister, Nam is almost too subdued, though she and Ryu have an effective chemistry. Shim, seen in flashbacks, is very good as a rag doll tossed around by her mother's madness.

Atmospheric score -- more a collection of sounds than regular music -- is a big help in maintaining mood. Other credits are modest but do the job. Original Korean title means "The Hell of Non-Believers"; the pic was also known earlier as "Living Death."

Camera (color), Jo Sang-yun; editors, Kim Sang-beom, Kim Jae-beom; music, Kim Hong-jib; production designer, Kim Shi-yeong; sound (Dolby Digital), Eun Heui-su. Reviewed on DVD, London, Oct. 22, 2009. Running time: 104 MIN.

[crippled_avenger]

The most talked about scene for Sylvester Stallone's upcoming "The Expendables" film finally got filmed this past Saturday morning in Los Angeles.

Ethelmae's Blog reports that Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger all showed up at the Hollywood Presbyterian Church to shoot "a pivotal scene that sets up the whole movie" according to publicist Maria Lascala, a scene that has the three action stars playing off of each other.

The scene was shot in an empty church without extras and minimal set decorations while the tone was a blend of "tension and humor". Lascala added that things went super smoothly - "we got through the scene quickly without compromise. In 6 hours we did wide shots, close-ups, turned around ... the whole nine yards"

We'll see the results for ourselves when the film opens next August.

[crippled_avenger]

January Jones and Diane Kruger have joined the thriller "Unknown White Male" for Dark Castle and Warner Bros. Pictures reports Variety.

Liam Neeson plays a doctor who, while visiting Berlin with his wife, is in a car accident that leaves him in a coma. He awakens to find that he seemingly has been replaced by another man, one with sinister intentions, leading the good doctor on a frantic quest to uncover the truth.

Jones will play Neeson's wife, who gets caught up in a conspiracy regarding her husband. Kruger will play a Berlin taxi driver and Neeson's unexpected ally.

Jaume Collet-Serra ("House of Wax," "Orphan") will direct from a screenplay by Oliver Butcher, Stephen Cornwell and Karl Gajdusek.

Joel Silver, Leonard Goldberg and Andrew Rona are producing. Shooting aims to begin late January in Berlin.

[crippled_avenger]

Adam Sandler is climbing up the hill for Columbia Pictures.

The actor will next star in the romantic comedy "Jack and Jill" and produce via his Happy Madison shingle. Sandler will play Jack as well as twin sister Jill.

Project was brought to Happy Madison by Todd Garner ("Paul Blart: Mall Cop"), who will also produce alongside Sandler's partner Jack Giarraputo. Steve Koren, whose relationship with Sandler dates back to their "Saturday Night Live" days, penned the screenplay.

"Jack and Jill" is scheduled to begin lensing early next year and will be released by Sony in early 2011.

Sandler, who starred in Universal's Judd Apatow-helmed "Funny People," will next be seen in Sony's high school reunion comedy "Grown Ups" and will also lend his voice for MGM/Sony comedy "Zookeeper."

He is repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment.

[crippled_avenger]

Milla Jovovich will star in writer-director Julien Magnat's psychological thriller "Faces in the Crowd" for Forecast Pictures, Radar Films and Minds Eye Entertainment.

Scott Mednick ("Where the Wild Things Are") is producing alongside Jean-Charles Levy, Clement Miserez and Kevin DeWalt.

Sylvain White, who directed "Stomp the Yard," is also onboard to produce and mentor Magnat, who is making his English-language helming debut with the project, which he also penned.

Story centers on a woman who barely survives an attack by a serial killer and wakes up in hospital with a head injury that leaves her "face-blind." No longer able to recognize faces, she must navigate a world in which facial features change each time she loses sight of them. All the while the killer is closing in, determined to eliminate the potential witness.

"Julien has written a breathtaking thriller that is truly original, and I was hooked from the first read," Mednick said of the screenplay that deals with the real-life neurological disorder called prosopagnosia.

Lensing will begin in March. International sales will be handled at next week's American Film Market by Voltage Pictures.

Jovovich, who toplined the "Resident Evil" franchise, is currently shooting the fourth installment. Her upcoming credits also include the Robert De Niro-Edward Norton starrer "Stone."

She is repped by WME.