NOVEMBER, 21

SEASON 9 BEGINS


DRAWING DEAD

Action / Gangster

The Cast: Orlando Bloom, Robert De Niro, James Gandolfini, Chow Yun-Fat

The Director and Producer: Quentin Tarantino
The Screenwriter: David Makalaster

The Plot: Michael San Quentin (Bloom) is on the run after the events of 3's And 7's. After having mistakenly delivered a fake dragon to mafia bigwig Mr. Jackson (De Niro) he is now, again, chased by the greater part of Jackson's "employees". He barely makes it out of the Circus Circus hotel where the meeting took place, and heads to a motel owned by his trusted friend Rick (Gandolfini) to hide and plan his next move. They agree that something must've happened at the pawn shop that took the dragon in and head over to investigate.

On arriving, Rick tries to beat it out of the owner when an armed triad member, Zen Lim (Yun-Fat), emerges from a back room and takes the pair prisoners. He brings them into the back room and after giving Michael a severe beating starts to torture Rick, who he believes to be mafia thug trying to muscle in on what is Triad territory, for information. Just as Zen catches on to that Rick is not really mafia and decides to execute him instead, Michael manages to get up and topple a shelf full of junk over him, knocking him out.

Rick and Michael search the shop but as they don't find the dragon and it apparently is Triad-owned, they reason that the owner must've recognized the dragon and brought it to the triad himself. Rick decides to call in on a triad police informant he knows in a seedy chinese bar while Michael places a call to Mr. Jackson from a nearby phone booth. After the initial furor of the bigwig about how Michael got away, Michael explains that since the triad have gotten their dragon back he should be in the clear. Jackson explains that it don't work that way, the mafia didn't recieve their goods from the triad because of Michael.

He threatens that unless Michael returns to him with the dragon within 3 days, he will put all his efforts on exterminating the San Quentin bloodline in total. When Michael hangs up, he is hit from behind by a pissed off Zen and a fight breaks out. For a while, Michael gains the upper hand, but is then pushed down and and strangled by Zen.

Just then Rick returns from the bar and smacks Zen over the head with a tire iron. ("We're even.") As they tie up Zen Lim, Rick informs Michael that the informant had heard that Zen himself had the dragon in his house in Paradise Palms.So they put Zen in the trunk and head for Paradise Palms.

Zen accidentally gives himself away when Rick questions him about security, and a quick frisking reveals a written down keycode. Using it, Rick and Michael waltz right through the front doors... and into a mafia-triad negotiation! The members present all recognize Michael after having chased him throughout the events of 3's And 7's and open fire.

The pair retreat back but is shut in by the triad members. However, Michael stumbles on Zen's private armory in the den and outfits himself with two GP35's while Rick grabs an M4A1 (Michael comments "This is the first Full House I didn't want.."). During the ensuing gunbattle, the pair finally find the golden dragon, and take it with them when they finally kill the last mafia thug.

Upon leaving the house, they realize that Zen has escaped fromt he trunk so they quickly jump in the car and speed off back towards Circus Circus.However, Zen follows with another group of triads in several car and try to ram/shoot/generally kill Michael and Rick. The chase continues along the streets of suburbia and even onto the strip, where the police catches wind of things and try to set up roadblocks to stop Michael and Rick. The chase continues until a police roadblock forces Zen's car to swerve off the road and into the entrance of the Mirage casino.

When they finally make it back to Circus Circus with the real dragon they find Mr. Jackson expecting them. He accepts the dragon, and this time confirms it's authenticity, but still pulls a gun on the two. "I can't just let you go after all the trouble you caused us. And seems the Triad are pretty eager to get you as well." he says, as Zen enters the office and nods in Jackson's direction, gun raised and aimed.


Stark’s Comment: Here is the sequel of the cult Tarantino’s movie ‘3’s and 7’s’. The first movie made a box office of 65 millions with net gains of 37 millions. It was chosen as one of the 10 favourite CMP’s movies of alltimes. This sequel follows the misadventures of Bloom caused by a Chinese dragon. As the prestige of the original movie has grown up with time, I expect this one to work even better than that. Trivia: The man that is passed out drunk in the potted plant when Michael hides in the bathroom of Circus Circus is David Makalaster himself, lampooning the incident that occurred while filming 3's And 7's.

BIRD OF A FEATHER

Animated / Comedy

The Cast: Voices of Matthew Broderick, Drew Barrymore, Richard Gere, Allison Janney, Andy Garcia, Samuel L. Jackson

The Director: Chris Columbus
The Screenwriter: Josh Collins

The Plot: Max (Broderick) is a young Nightingale who desires more out of life than his typical boring simplistic routine where the only exciting thing he and his friends and family do is fetch bugs for dinner and migrate. His biggest dream is to make it as a singer on Broadway, but he gets no support from the others, who fill his head with self doubt and don't even want him to disappoint himself by not trying, bringing up the idea that he is merely a bird.

During the routine migration, Max decides to fly away in pursuit of his dream. When he auditions for a musical production, despite his natural gift of singing, he is laughed out of the audition by the casting director for the mere fact that he is a bird. While walking the New York streets trying to figure out which way to go back home, he overhears the sobs of Julianne (Barrymore), who was also laughed out of the audition. She is a struggling singer/actress who doesn't have the singing voice she wants.

Max thinks about the embarrassment of having to face his home again so they can say 'told you so' so he is under the impression that he can help Julianne learn how to sing, despite how backstage he heard her terrible singing voice back at the audition and laughed at it himself.

It takes a little bit of convincing for her to believe he can help, but when he does, he gives her all kinds of lessons on how to sing. She struggles a bit and Max sees how depressing her life is with a boss (Garcia) who treats her badly at her waitressing job and a father (Gere) and mother (Janney) who don't fully support her passion to be a singer. Max understands how close he and Julianne really are. Julianne lives in her apartment alone with a cat, Rufus (Jackson), who wants to make a meal out of Max.

Once Max helps Julianne achieve her goal on finding the singing that works best for her, she nails a role on Broadway, wins a Tony Award and goes on to being a successful singer with a recording contract. As a opposed to many other films which have a struggling person make it big, Julianne doesn't let fame get to her head and she always remembers who helped her get to where she is and it was a little nightingale with a big heart named Max.

Max realizes that he can never change the fact that he is what he is, a bird so he decides to achieve a different kind of dream, to help others discover their talent and he opens a school which Julianne helps get on the map. It was all done because Max followed the flap of his own wing!


Stark’s Comment: Animated features are always an uncertain release. CMP has a few flops in its film’s vault. But the Studio also has the Robotech saga and, most of all, the recent record-breaker ‘The Ice Princess’. So let’s just cross fingers and wait cause anything can happen.

REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS

Action / Exploitation

The Cast: Eliza Dushku, Michelle Rodriguez, Rose McGowan, Pam Grier, Kaitlin Olson, Zoe Bell.

The Director and Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
The Producer: Quentin Tarantino / Midnight Movies

The Plot: On a trumped up drug charge 18 year old Jessica (E.Dushku) is sent to a special all girls school. But as she soon finds out this isn't no safe place to be.

The large campus is mostly controlled by 2 major gangs all wanting power. Drugs, and all sorts of weopons are smuggled onto the campus by corrupt teachers and guards. After Jessica is stripped and raped by a female named Angel (Z.Bell) from a gang known as the Blades she is rescued by Naomi (R.McGowan) from the Vixens.

They begin having a love affair soon after fueled by sex. Soon they start planning their revenge on the other gang by kidnapping Angel and her girlfriend Shannon (K.Olson) and other members and killing them or wounding them.

Violence from both sides escalates and the good guards and the principal (P.Grier) try and find ways to control the situation. But the violence soon escalates and all war breaks out as both sides plant bombs around the school to trap members and total carnage ensues with major gun fights and kungfu battles between the members.

Leader of the blades Tanya (M.Rodriguez) captures Naomi forcing the Vixens into a rescue mission into a abandoned school building but the vixens face alot of deaths on their side as they are gunned down on the stair well. But Jessica manages to make it to the roof top to rescue her girlfriend and has a sword fight with Tanya.

At the end of the duel Jessica sticks her through the neck and is able to save her girlfriend.

Sountrack includes: Drowning Poll – Bodies (Let The Bodies Hit The Floor). See clip at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO_QntXc-c4


Stark’s Comment: It’s Tarantino’s week at CMP. Here, he teams up again with Kubrick – after the second Wild Cards movie and the third Ace Banner adventure, in which there collaboration was the other way around: Kubrick produced and Tarantino directed – to set up a female violence (and sex) show not suitable for all audiences. B-series at its best. A movie to love or hate.


SILVER SABLE: Anthony Hopkins returns to CMP after his awarded villain in ‘The Guardians’ to play Katherine Heigl’s uncle and mentor. Stephen Dorff debuts in CMP playing another villain of the function besides Tim Robbins. And a secret revealed: Robert Downey Jr. makes a cameo in the film playing… guess who? Yes, once again, mighty Ironman.

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT: In 1984, ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ initiated a cult saga of horror flicks. Now, 24 years later, Matt Kubrick has decided to develop a remake of that horror classic under the label of Midnight Movies. And some of his friends join the adventure. Michael Bay, who loves to produce remakes of old horror flicks, teams up once again with Kubrick to produce the movie, as he did with the first ‘Wild Cards’ and the ‘Robotech’ trilogy. And Alexander Aja, who had collaborated with Kubrick before directing ‘Wild Cards: Ace In The Hole’, has accepted to direct it. Expect blood.

BOND SCUM: Some more names to add to this neverending cast: Sean Bean (‘Hitman: Thicker Blood’, ‘Parody Of Arts’); Joe Pesci, recently seen in ‘The Naked Sun’; and Jeanine Garofalo, in her first work for the Studio, join this Bond’s parody. David Zucker, the successful director of previous CMP’s parodies like the first ‘Lieutenant USA’ and ‘Q*Bert’ replaced the initially considered Rob Reiner and is already shooting the movie.

THE LAND OF NOD: Josh Hutcherson and Freddie Highmore are the only live action characters in this Peter Jackson’s fantasy adventure movie. The rest of the characters will be digitally generated although, in the line of ‘Beowulf’, they will look similar to the stars that lends them their voices. And first members of the cast of voices known are GMA Nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (a witch) and GMA Winner John Goodman (an ogre).

THE DARK TOWER: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE: As it is known, the recent GMA winner Daniel Craig rejected the offer to be in the movie. He has been replaced by Roy Winstone. And William Moseley, who played a main role in the first movie of the saga, will be here too but only making a cameo before his character definitely returns in future sequels of the franchise.

DARE TO BE PERFECT: Dayton and Faris succeeded past Season with the Josh Collins’ comedy ‘Paternal Nightmare’. Now, the trio meets again with this new comedy about a disfunctional family. Internal sources have revealed some casting problems so no member of the cast has been made public yet.

MARY’S DARK SIDE: A long awaited return to CMP in this Zach Braff’s comedy: Matthew Perry, who starred a chain of hits in CMP a few Seasons ago (‘Singles’, ‘Casual Day’, ‘King Of The World’), is back playing the neurotic and obsessive ex boyfriend of Kate Hudson decided to ruin her relationship with Braff. Donald Sutherland, last time seen in CMP in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Atlantis’, also joins the cast.

LYING WISH: Skye McCole Bartusiak, whose only work for CMP was in the family comedy ‘Welcome To Summer Camp’ returns to CMP with this Mark Waters’ dark comedy about a failed actor faking a cancer to succeed.

HAIGHT-ASHBURY: The legendary San Francisco's streets from the hippies times give name to this new story written by Richard Franzwa. A revisitation of the ‘summer of love’ with some stars playing some of the most iconic characters of the 60’s from Jimi Hendrix to Janis Joplin, Tim Leary or Jerry Garcia. Although GMA Winner Cameron Crowe showed his interest in this project, it will finally be directed by Oliver Stone (‘The Company’). Jeremy Stumper, debutante at CMP, and Emma Roberts (‘Flashes Of Life’, ‘Goths: A Love Story’, ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’) play the starring couple.

FLASHMAN’S TRAVELS: Catherine Z. Jones played a minor role in the first Flashman’s movie. She was the mistress of Flashy’s father, played by Sean Connery, and occasional lover of his naughty son. In this second episode, she jumps to the leading female role and will continue her love and hate relationship with Flashman across the world as his travels mate.


REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS

Matt Kubrick’s words presenting the movie:

‘I was vaguely aware of the 80s movie of the same name when I was wrote the plot for this but there isn't much else I could've called it. Besides sharing the same name the two movies have nothing in common.’

‘This is all about guns explosions kung fu battles and girls and not necessarily in that order. This is like watching a live action anime. I wanted to make something with lots of wire work and people doing crazy stuff on screen. This is most definetly going to be an R rated film.’

I wanted to cast some people who never worked for CMP before the only one that has is Rose McGowen. One of the girls I really wanted in this movie is Zoe Bell because she can do all her own stunt work, I also wanted Kaitlin Olson from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’

‘You can expect alot of amazing fight sequences and lots of blood letting. I want people to have fun while watching it and go crazy when something badass happens on screen.’


THE 8TH GMA EDITION
By Bob Felton

Surprises at last! Well, a few unpredictable things finally happened at the GMA. In quite a few categories, the winner wasn’t the one that was expected to be. And I loved to see the face of the surprised defeated at their seats when their name didn’t come out of the envelop.

What’s the key of this GMA’s edition? Very easy: James Bradley. Three of his movies were competing for Best Picture, two of them were fighting for Best Screenplay and so on… GMA’s votes are so tight that so many things could depend on Bradley’s choice upon his own movies. In fact, I thought ‘The Funeral Drum’ would win it all, as it had not just one but two screenwriters supporting it – and that could mean a definitive advantage in votes. Unless… yes, unless Bradley decided to betray Joey Stark and go for any other of his pitches. And that’s exactly what it seems to have happened!

So, lets go with the juicy surprises…

First, Best Actress. Poor Nicole. She had already kept a place in her library for the statue. She just could not believe it when Downey said Scarlett’s name. Charlize Theron might be laughing at home watching how, after all, Nicole got the role but lost the bet both in box office and at the GMA.

Second, Best Director. Sofia? Oh, please… What were voters thinking? Sympathy for the weakest candidate, as Charlie Kiggs usually writes? Yes, I was the one that made the big ‘booooo!’ from the bottom of the Palazzo when she took the award.

Third, Best Starring Couple. ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’ looked designed to win this award. But Willis and Bettany clearly defeated Cusack and Johansson (yeah! I liked that!). At least, Scarlett had her award later. But poor John… oh, poor John!

Fourth, Best Picture. Who did you vote for, Bradley? Yes, here came the biggest surprise of the night. The funeral drum was silenced and, surprisingly, the flopped dramedy took the big award. Surprise, surprise…

Four surprises are more than anyone can expect from any award ceremony. The rest was more predictable. Here are a few significant data for posterity:

-As it happened with ‘Carousel’ in Season 4, the most awarded movie of the night (‘The Funeral Drum’) didn’t win the Best Picture award for the second time in CMP’s history.

-As it happened with ‘Nagasaki Daydreams’ and ‘Uncommon Valour: The Frigate Captain’, the Best Picture winner (‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’) had flopped in box office.

-The big deception of the night was for ‘The Chinese Bride’. Five nominations and not a single award. A bad night for a great movie like it happened before with ‘The Great War Series: Darkening Skies’ or ‘Hollyweird’.

-Daniel Craig won his second GMA, this time as Best Supporting Actor (and I have to add here: …although playing a lead role in the movie).

-Scarlett Johansson finally leaves the list of the most times defeated talents.

-Two traditions not respected: the most nominated movie (‘The Funeral Drum’) finally was the most awarded one and Best Screenplay and Best Director winners were not the same than Best Picture winner.

As usual, not everything that happened at the ceremony was fair. But I must admit this has been one of my favourite GMA’s edition. But maybe it is just because I am a mean guy that loves watching people suffering an unexpected pain…


Hello lovers of films. Just got back from the lovely Venice. Mrs. Thumbs always tends to fall in love with every place we go and I get the little crumbs of love that are left. Hey chick, if it weren't for me and my paycheck we wouldn't be able to even afford gas let alone a trip to Venice!

GMAs kicked off with the traditional Will Farrell dress up in which he complains about not getting nominated for a GMA. Journalist and fellow friend of mine Stephanie Stevens asked Will on the red carpet how he feels about Keanu Reeves getting a prestigious award nomination before him. It looked like it put him in a bad mood all night but the appearance of previous season best actor winner Jack Black tried to inflate Will's confidence. Will doesn't quite realize that he's backed himself into the corner where all a moviegoer will see is Will Farrell, not his character.

I'm surprised Hilary Swank didn't get raped James Marsden on the stage seeing that outfit with no bra. Note to actresses attending events: It's ok to show some skin but there's a fine line between sexy and whorish.

I was very glad to see Dr. Jones winning the sequel award. It was a tough category because all nominees were deserving of sequels but I'm sure CMP won't deny the losers guaranteed sequels one because they're good movies already and two they all fed the studio lots of money!

Uma takes home the statue after the upset last year where she was the underdog against two powerful performances. But was the role right for a win? Perhaps for a supporting actress nod but I feel she got lucky this season as the supporting actress GMA contenders this season were few.

I was surprised Pearlman took home the Villain award! I was almost certain Hoffman was going to pull it off, but that goes to show the unpredictability awards can go. Just because you're the front-runner doesn't mean you're the winner!

When Matt Damon co-presented the Screenplay award, he took a slight jab at Josh Collins, picking on the fact that the 4 time consecutive GMA nominee screenwriter doesn't have a spot in this year's season. Matt said maybe it was because he hasn't written a movie with him in it yet. Collins was a good sport, chuckling on the outside and wanting to strangle Matt on the inside. But I just knew Stark and Bradley were going to take home the statue and be the first co-writers to win the award. Congrats guys, you really did write the masterpiece of the season.

Daniel Craig wins essentially the same award that he won before, just in a different category. At least it shows he's moved up and proved himself as a force to reckon with now that he's been nominated 3 out of 8 seasons, and won 2 of those! Excellent work Daniel, a well deserved victory.

Ooh we have another musical performance from Jena Malone and her band. Mrs. Thumb would say 'stick to acting, dear' but I say 'tee hee she's hot when she's all sweaty'

Scarlett went in as the underdog this season and came out on top. Did voters feel bad for ignoring her all the many times she's been nominated? Well whatever the case, it worked and Scarlett can proudly call herself a GMA winner. Now what's even more impressive is winning another one. I wasn't surprised that Sean Penn took home the gold but was proud of him nonetheless.

Jim Carrey, you should be glad the GMAs have at least recognized you more than any Oscar has. I enjoyed Malifacrum and was impressed by Sofia's direction so was pleased she won. I was rooting for her to make GMA history by being the first female director to be nominated and win. She is a growing mature director who still has a lot to learn though!

Colin Farrell(how clever that the show started with a Farrell and ended with a Farrell) delivered a great farewell speech about his legendary Hitman role. It's been fun, but all great things must come to an end. After the speech he presented the big one, best picture and if that sure as hell was a surprise. I had to make sure I heard it right. Sixth Avenue Castaways? Another underdog victory and the tradition of 'most nominated doesn't always mean best picture winner' continues.

All in all a night where the little fish ruled. Congratulations to all of the winners and I hope to see many of you in next season's ceremony!


Best Screenplay GMA Winners
James Bradley & Joey Stark, ‘The Funeral Drum’

As usual, here is an special interview with the latest winners of the GMA for Best Screenplay. As this Edition, for the first time, there have been two winners, here is a peculiar format: Joey Stark interviews James Bradley.

STARK:I was thrilled when you came to me with the idea of writing together The Funeral Drum. Where did the idea of making this kind of movie came to you from?
BRADLEY: I wanted to try new things after what CMP has named as 'relationships movies', a name I don’t really like. I just didn't want to make a sci-fi movie or anything like that. There are a lot of CMP's writers doing that and they do it so well so I thought I would try something different. A cops movie looked as a great idea. I love cops tv series like 'The Wire' and cops movies like John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' so I wanted to tell a realistic story about cops and the kind of problems they may deal with.

STARK: To be honest, you came to me with some ideas for the movie and they liked me so much that I asked you if I could work in your material...
BRADLEY: Well, you have always helped me with my pitches. I am not good at English at all, so you have translated my screenplays before. This time, we went a step forward. You got involved not just in translating but in writing the story. Your ideas enriched my original story so much, making it more complex, and I liked them a lot. It was a pleasure sharing ideas and building up the story together.

STARK: One of the appeals of the movie is its cast. In fact, the movie has won the Best Cast GMA too! Was it easy to guess who would play who?
BRADLEY: It came up so easily. One thing I had clear from the very beginning was that I wanted Sean Penn to star the movie. Many years ago, he made a movie titled 'Colours' and, in my mind, I could see his character here as that same character with a couple of decades of experience in the streets. Julia was another obvious choice. She is becoming a great mature actress, far away from the Pretty Woman times... and I know you like her so much. I wanted to work again with Rosario Dawson after 'Chevrolet'. And you came with the idea of Jeffrey Wright, who was perfect for the villain. The rest of them were also nice and easy choices.

STARK: Didn't you feel strange not working with Kate Winslet or Scarlett Johansson, as usual? Tell me, who do you consider your main muse?
BRADLEY: *laughs* I cannot choose! I have already worked with Scarlett this Season in 'The 6th Avenue Castaways' and I am sure I will work again with both in the future.

STARK: Let's talk about the GMA. You seem to be a regular at the awards. But this has been a particularly impressive edition for you with your three pitches nominated for Best Picture.
BRADLEY: Well, I don't see myself as a blockbusters maker. I am not a big fan of action or sci-fi. I like them, but I don’t see myself writing them. So I guess my kind of stories adapt well to awards as they are very much based on the acting work of the cast. Anyway, I don't plan my pitches looking for awards. I just write the kind of stories I would like to watch on screen and choose my favourite stars to work on them. That's all. I have been lucky enough at box office and then awards have come as a nice surprise. After this amazing edition, I am afraid voters may get bored of so many of my pitches winning awards or being nominated and may begin to ignore them. But I don't want to feel any pressure about it. I will keep making the movies I like and hope CMP fans like them too. I don't want to face my pitches with the pressure of thinking that everybody is expecting me to keep winning awards.

STARK: Some people say that, as a voter, you have decided to support 'The 6th Avenue Castaways' better than 'The Funeral Drum'. Is that true?
BRADLEY: Vote is secret *laughs*. The only thing I will say about it is that it was a hard time for me to compose my GMA ballot.

STARK: You have begun a career as director lately with 'Celebutantes' and 'The 6th Avenue Castaways'. Do you plan going on directing movies?
BRADLEY: Yes, my plan is directing some of my pitches from time to time. 'Celebutantes' was just a try. But I was very interested in directing '6th Avenue' cause I really liked this story about a man and a woman living in an empty world. In fact, I am writing a short novel right now based on that premise. I will keep directing my own screenplays when I find a good reason to do it but I will keep counting with other directors most of the time.

STARK: Do you care about box office?
BRADLEY: Of course! It would not make sense failing at box office. I have had a few movies losing money like 'Piece Of My Heart' and '6th Avenue' and it is a painful experience. As I said, I don't see myself as a blockbuster author. I mainly write comedy and drama and I know those are tough genres to make money with at CMP. But I have been lucky enough at box office until now to keep betting for this kind of little movies.

STARK: Which of your pitches do you feel more proud of? I personally love your collaborations with Wes Anderson in 'Bill and the Rocket Man', 'Fools Game' and 'Man in the mirror'.
BRADLEY: I had so much fun making those movies. But, as I said before, I wanted to try different things and not just making once and again movies with Wes Anderson, Paul Giamatti and Kate Wisnlet. Making 'Pompeii' was a great experience. It is the biggest movie I've been involved in. It is a thrill setting up a big production from time to time although I feel more comfortable with low budget productions like '6th Avenue'.

STARK: Your plans for the future?
BRADLEY: There's a new Flashman adventure coming up. It is my only franchise and I love it. Flashamn is a character different from all others. He has a complete lack of moral and principles. He is a coward and a betrayer but always comes up as a hero and a noble man. And, in the meantime, he goes with any woman around. It is so much fun to adapt those books. I just hope box office responds cause I would love to go on with Flashman in the future.


Ok, so CMP gets naughty with the wild and sexy ‘Reform School Girls’… Well, we usually don’t do that here (we are good boys), but maybe we should help a bit to warm up things for the release of the movie. There we go: lead star of ‘Reform School Girls’, Eliza Dushku, shows us here some good reasons to go and watch the movie…



As I wrote before, I must be a mean guy… This first article of the new Season will try to prove that not everything is happy around CMP. There’s a bunch of angry people out there and I want to dedicate them my column this week. Here are the stories of what I call the… Shiny Unhappy People:

Cameron Diaz. As soon as Joey Stark started the writing of 'Silver Sable', he contacted Cameron Diaz to offer her the role. Cameron - who is still waiting for a CMP's success using not only her voice - instantly said yes. But when the screenplay was finished and pre-production was about to begin, the Stark brothers suddenly changed their mind. Katherine Heigl was now the chosen one. Is Cameron too old for the work? Confidential sources tell me that's the reason of the change. Hollywood is cruel with women coming on age when Cameron (36) can already be considered too old to play a heroine.

Orlando Bloom. 'Never again'. Now it's official. Bloom has announced he won't return to the Avengers saga. The reason? He wasn't happy of how he was treated by the Studio compared to Norton and Downey Jr. during the shooting and promotion of 'The Avengers 2'. So the group of heroes loses Hawk Eye. In fact, Bloom was also offered to make a cameo as Hawk Eye in 'Silver Sable' and he rejected the offer with those same words: 'Never again'.

Spencer Breslin. He was supposed to star 'The Land Of Nod' together with Josh Hutcherson. The contract was ready to be signed. But suddenly came the surprise: CMP decided to replace Breslin with Freddie Highmore. The reason here? The Studio considered Spencer has grown too much to play the character.

Mike Newell. He directed the successful 'The Misadventures Of Harry Flashman'. But the sequel will be directed by Kenneth Branagh. 'When making the first movie, it was understood that I would also direct a possible sequel. But it seems like James Bradley has suddenly changed his mind. The worst of it is that he didn't even make me a phone call to tell me. Nobody from CMP told me neither. I discovered it when I read in this blog that Branagh would direct it. Not very elegant...', has said Newell.

Charlize Theron. Nicole Kidman stole her the lead character of 'Maleficarum' in the very last minute. I have heard that when Charlize was invited by Harry Stark to present an award at the GMA ceremony, she kindly refused the invitation. She just didn't want to be there watching Nicole winning the award. The big consolation for Charlize is that finally the movie flopped in box office and Nicole didn’t win the award. The funny thing is that both stars have confirmed later that they will be working together soon in a peculiar movie from other Hollywood’s Studio: the story of a transsexual (Kidman) and his wife (Theron).