APRIL, 29

MOVIES RELEASED

1-THE HEIRS – PART 3

Action / Drama
Directed and Produced by Martin Scorsese
Starring Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman, Michael Douglas, Charlize Theron
Box Office: 63 mill.
Net Gains: 31 mill.

CMP’s Reaction: Maybe it came too late after the two previous movies, both released in Season 1. But, despite a cold box office respond, a great movie CMP feels highly proud of.

2- ULTRAMAN’S REVENGE

Action / Superhero / Parody
Directed by Harold Ramis
Produced by Eddie Murphy
Starring Eddie Murphy, Beyonce Knowles, Will Ferrell, Pamela Anderson, Martin Lawrence
Box Office: 42 mill.
Net Gains: 7 mill.

CMP’s Reaction: It was supposed to make more money than the first Ultraman’s adventure. But it didn’t. At least, productions costs were covered. There’s not much more to say.

THE CRITICS CHAT

1- THE HEIRS – PART 3

“A masterpiece. Even better than the two previous episodes. Intense and dramatic. Scorsese paints a deep reflection about betrayal and remorse.”
-Lilly Stevens, ‘The Critics Corner’

“It is hard to stand out any of the members of the cast, as they all make a superb work. The relationship between the decadent Sean Penn and his cold and vindictive father, De Niro, is just a duel between two masters in the art of acting. But Nicole Kidman is also admirable, the same as Douglas and Theron, playing that false model and FBI agent that goes down hand in hand with Penn to a hell of drugs and sick passion that leads to murder”.
-Charlie Kiggs, ‘The Critics Corner’

“I wish CMP would make more movies like this. Adult, brilliant, absorbing and entertaining. But there’s only one Martin Scorsese and he can’t direct all CMP’s movies.”
-Jackie Todd, ‘The Critics Corner’

2- ULTRAMAN’S REVENGE

“More than a sequel, the movie is a replay of the original one. Same situations, same jokes… I just wonder what’s the reason to produce a movie like this, besides taking a few millions into CMP’s account. And, after all, they were not so many millions…”
-Anne Roman, ‘The Critics Corner’

“None of the comedians in the movie are any of my favourites. And Murphy, Ferrell and Lawrence have done better things than this. Maybe, Will Ferrell and his excessive parody of the classic villain of superheroes movies is the only thing that can be saved, although he repeats in fact what Danny DeVito did before in the first movie. Well, and the sexy Beyoncé, whose work in the movie has more to do with a fashion show than with acting”.
-Roy Winslow, ‘The Critics Corner’

“A correct comedy. But when a comedy only makes you smile when it is trying to make you laugh, there’s just something missing.”
-Bob Felton, ‘The Critics Corner’

AWAITING RELEASE

1-THE LAW

The Cast: Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Eva Mendes, Andy Garcia

The Director: Christopher Nolan

The Plot: It’s six months after Gannon (B:Pitt) lost his badge in the aftermath of the Pig-eater case. Back on the force he’s assigned to a special undercover job with Capt. Briggs’ (A.Garcia) Organized Crime unit in an attempt to finally take down Mafia Don, Alberto Storella (A.Pacino). Storella has been battling Mickey O’Brien for control of Boston for months, as part of that he’s setting up a new narcotics pipeline with a Turk named Namoe and the two are about to meet for the first time to hammer out the details. Heavily disguised and backed up by his new partner, Inspector Beth Hanna (E.Mendes), Gannon infiltrates Storella’s stronghold in Namoe’s place. But things fall apart when the digital recorder Gannon’s carrying malfunctions and begins playing back. Enraged Storella tears off Gannon’s disguise revealing the face of his most hated enemy. Now at full alert Hanna is also discovered and killed in a gun battle with Storella’s men. Gannon is beaten and drugged for several days in a secret room while Briggs and the Org Crime unit search for him. After almost a week and in a nearly catatonic state Storella sneaks Gannon and Hanna’s corpse out for a midnight burial at the gravel pits. But Gannon manages to grab his gun away from Storella and orders them to stop the car. While Gannon is distracted fighting Storella’s men the boss makes a run for it. Gannon gives chase but is koshed on the head and tumbles to the bottom of the gravel pit. Storella turns the conveyors on and begins filling the pit, then leaves Gannon for dead and returns to the limo. But Gannon manages to claw his way out and again confronts the mobster. Storella snatches up a gun and fires wildly. Gannon’s .44 thunders once to deadly effect, blowing Storella’s head off. Leaving the dead mobsters where they lay Gannon gets into Storella’s limo and drives back toward the city.

The Comment: ‘Hot Iron’ was a box office disaster but it won the Most Wanted Sequel GMA, so the Studio decided to produce this sequel. Sequels from flopped movies have previously worked for CMP. But will this one be able to overcome the extremely low box office of the original?


2-CASUAL DAY

The Cast: Matthew Perry, Eva Longoria, Tommy Lee Jones, Richard Dreyfuss

The Director: Andrew Bergman

The Plot: Charlie Foster (M.Perry) is an ordinary man, a shy and a bit boring accountant in a big corporation. But one Friday, what was supposed to be another casual day for him, his life will turn upside down. Foster discovers that his girlfriend is cheating him with his best friend. He is fired from his job. And when he goes to the bank to check his finances, he is taken as hostage by the clumsiest bank robber ever, Lisa Castillo (E.Longoria). After the robbery fails, Lisa takes him with her in a car. That’s the beginning of their adventure. Lisa tells him that she has to get money to bail his father out (T.L.Jones), as he is in jail accused of a robbery he didn’t committed, although he has been a professional bank robber all his life. Foster begins trying to escape but finally decides to help her. So they have to run away from inspector McLaren (R.Dreyfuss), try to get some money and help Lisa’s father. And that means action, comedy and romance as they turn to be the clumsiest Bonnie and Clyde ever.

The Comment: An action comedy for all audiences. The kind of movie that usually works in box office, so there’s not a reason why not expecting a nice box office breakdown for this one.


HE SAID, SHE SAID

“I went to that Gala and I had to smile while all those shitty movies won their award and ‘Darkening Skies’ lost in all its 5 nominations. When I went on stage to take my award I just wanted to say: are you crazy not awarding ‘Darkening Skies’ or what?”
-Colin Farrell, shitty shitty bang bang

“If you star in an ambitious movie full of stars and with a high budget and it suddenly flops, like ‘The Cure’, you can choose between hiding at home and cry or go out there and try to smile as if you just don’t care”
-Leo DiCaprio, trying to smile

“Probably, if the movie would have included a nude scene with Beyonce we would have made a bigger box office. But I was the only one that accepted to appear naked on screen and CMP didn’t approve the idea”
-Will Ferrell, working hard for the money

“Everybody at CMP feel so creative and innovative with all those musicals they are going to produce. I wonder how stupid will they feel when all of them crash at box office”
-Robert Rodriguez, optimistic

“So Brad Pitt came to me and told me: I want you to direct a western that my wife is going to star and I’m going to produce. I had promised myself I would never make a western again. So I’m still wondering what was I drinking when I said I’d do it”
-Clint Eastwood, drunk?

“It feels pretty stupid to go out there and tell a few silly jokes to present an award. But, hey, Drew Barrymore even had to sing and dance, so my duty wasn’t that bad compared to hers.”
-Michael Bay, never invited to present an award again?

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

VISIONARIES: Producer and Director Bryan Singer seems to have chosen his starring couple for this fantasy adventure. Hugh Jackman (‘Ace Banner’, ‘Dive In the Sun’) and Hillary Swank (‘Taurus 3’, ‘Home’) will be the leaders of the knights.


SOUTH EAST: It hasn’t been easy, but Neil Jordan has finally decided who will play the main female role in the movie. Although a British actress was initially preferred, it will finally be GMA Nominee Kirsten Dunst (‘Singles’, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’) the one to team up with Daniel Radcliffe.

DAKOTA NORTH: It seems like Clint Eastwood has looked back to the cast of ‘Mystic River’ to build the cast for his western. Sean Penn, just finished his work in ‘The Heirs’ saga, will be the main villain of the function while Kevin Bacon will play another guy not to feel proud of.

PIECE OF MY HEART: All the cast is finishing the recording of the soundtrack in Sony Studios in California. Buz Luhrman has recently stated that he is so satisfied with the shooting and the recording.

THE COMPANY: First names for the cast and first problems. Tim Robbins (‘The Passion Beneath’) will be a kind of Pope in the Oliver Stone’s religious thriller. And some catholic groups have started to protest for the ‘unacceptable vision of the Church’ that, according to what is said in some web sites, this story shows. These groups have written to CMP demanding the Studio to cancel this production.

HITMAN: THICKER BLOOD: Just a few days after Colin Farrell won the GMA for Best Actor, CMP has greenlighted the third movie of the profitable franchise. Farrell and director Tony Scott are back in what might be the last episode of the action saga.

EUREKA!: Ben Stiller has starred two profitable comedies for CMP: ‘The Perfect Candidate’ and ‘LOL’. Now, he’s back with another comedy. But this time he won’t star. Stiller will only be the director in his debut behind the cameras for CMP.


THE LIBRARY: Anthony Hopkins, Eric Bana, Ian Holm, Natalie Portman, Ian McKellen and Michael Clarke Duncan are the complete cast of this epic historical adventure directed by Anthony Minghella and written by Marcus Trax to be released soon.

LONDON UNDERGROUND: French actress Julie Delpy and Sean William Scott (‘Contract Killing For Dummies’) join Liv Tyler in his terrorizing trip to the secrets of London’s subway in what is expected to be the new Matt Kubrick’s horror hit after ‘Cursed Neverland’.

STAR WARS: MYSTERIES OF THE SITH: Many many years ago in a galaxy far away… Lawrence Kasdan wrote the screenplay for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. Now, almost three decades later, Kasdan will return to the saga as the brand new director of this sequel. Kasdan already directed for CMP the successful road movie ‘Chevrolet’.

COMING SOON


THE 3rd GOLDEN MOON AWARDS CEREMONY
By Special Guest Writer Jack Carter

Not too thrilling. I’m sorry, but it’s true. The awards were so shared out that it seemed like a children birthday party where all the guests must get a little present. One award per movie and no clear winner. ‘Star Wars: New Order’ joined the three awards club (‘The Crusades’, ‘Deadly Sins’, ‘Uncommon Valour’ and ‘Fools Game’ are the other members) with two minor awards (Most Wanted Sequel and Best Villain) together with Best Picture and not even ‘Smoke Signals’ can be pointed out as the surprise of the night with only two awards, for Best Cast and Best Actress. We’ll have to wait for another edition to see a movie smashing all the rest with something like six or seven awards. No ‘Titanic’ for the moment in the GMA.

THE WINNERS

-‘Star Wars: New Order’: so Top 1 at Box Office won Best Picture. Not very surprising. I would have gone for the historical fantasy ‘The Toymaker’, but it was almost inevitable that Star Wars fans would strongly support Lucas’ picture.

-Tom Hanks: Completely agree and almost a unanimous decision. Hanks directed the most original movie of the season with mastery. No superheroes, no FXs, everything far away from mainstream Hollywood. The funny thing is that this one was the only nomination for a superb movie.

-Colin Farrell: Did anyone have any doubt he would win? No surprise here either. Personally, I think Matt Damon deserved the award for his exceptional dramatic performance of a war victim in ‘Home’, but Farrell’s fans are quite a lobby hard to beat. Travolta’s nomination? I want to think that was only a joke…

-Jennifer Connelly: I’m relief she won. I thought she had no chance to beat Keira, but Connelly made without doubt the best female acting work of the season. This award keeps my faith in the good sense of voters.

THE LOSERS

-‘The Great War: Darkening Skies’: 5 nominations and not a single award in a night where even the usher seemed to win one. Unfair. Peter Weir’s epic portrait of WWI did not deserve this mistreat. I just hope this can be repaired with the two next episodes of Jack Hammer’s trilogy.

-Keira Knightley: She was the favourite for Best Actress, but finally didn’t make it. Nothing to complain about it.

-Claire Danes: here’s one of the awards that ‘Darkening Skies’ should have won. Awarding Sharon Stone for ‘Wild Cards 2’ instead of the intense and talented performance of Danes sounds like a dark joke to me.

-Kiefer Sutherland: How many actors can create an evil Peter Pan without making a fool of himself? Sutherland did it. He created a brilliant villain, while Daniel Craig made an obvious impression of Darth Vader. But…

THE GALA

The Worst: Drew Barrymore’s opening performance. I understand that the Studio has to sell its upcoming musical ‘Piece Of My Heart’, but it didn’t make sense to see Drew making an impression of Madonna.

The Beauty: Charlize Theron, presenter of Best Actor award. Beside her elegance and glamour, Colin Farrell looked even more as the backstreet guy he is.

The Beast: Angelina Jolie, beast of beauty, who lost two chances to win (Best Starring Couple and Best Villain) and still had the mood to smile presenting Best Picture award.

The Contradiction: Best marketing award was won by a major flop, ‘Styx and Stones’, so its marketing wasn’t that good after all, was it?

The Couple: Jake and Natalie. There chemistry deserved the Best Starring Couple win. But also Kiefer and Natalie looked great presenting an award. Portman just makes a great couple with anyone.

The Best: The award for Best Cast to ‘Smoke Signals’. A little movie with a cast that fits perfectly with the story and the characters.

THE HOPE

Maybe next edition will be better. My bets? For what I know of upcoming releases, I would put my money (but not too much) in ‘The Library’ (historical pictures always have its place), Great War Series’ second movie (to compensate what happened this edition), ‘The Heirs – Part 3’ (just has to be) ‘South East’ (looks so good) and maybe some of the upcoming musicals …if CMP gets to know how to make them work in box office.

INSIDE CMP

Important novelties! CMP’s Executive Board is considering moving to the latest version of ‘Hollywood Mogul’ for Season 5 (v80 by the moment). That could change again box office results, as it happened when moving from HM’s v18 (Season 1) to HM’s v38 (Seasons 2, 3 & 4). But the Studio considers that managing its movies with the latest version can be an important improvement. Tests are already being made to decide in which level will be managed the Studio to get box office results the most similar possible to the ones it already gets.


And another important novelty for Season 5. CMP will use Smirkworthy’s talents databases from Season 5 (they can be found at Hollywood Mogul’s message board). That way, there will be more talents available and, also, only talents included in those databases will be able to work in CMP’s movies. Screenwriters and directors can work on a more secure basis when creating their pitches knowing which talents are available.

The big doubt: what is the best release date for a musical and a western? CMP will soon release the musical ‘Piece of my heart’ and the western ‘Dakota North’ and there is an internal debate in the Studio to decide which will be the best date to do it. There’s the feeling that the release date chosen will determine if these two movies will hit or miss. And no-one at the Studio’s Executive Board has a clear decision about it.