SEPTEMBER, 4
SEASON 11 BEGINS
KINGDOM
Fantasy / Action
The Cast: Megan Fox, Chris Evans, Naomi Watts, Jeremy Irons, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Aaron Eckhart, Chris Cooper
The Director: Zack Snyder
The Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
The Plot: After the credits roll a narration begins, while the male voice talks the camera pans over beautiful shots of deserts vast mountains, ancient cities, deep forests and strange flying birds and different animals.
Enter into a mystical world, for thousands of years The Elves ruled the land of Ashlyn. They were once a noble race they were the great thinkers, wrote the history of the world, discovered new things that helped chart the course of time. But when man showed up in the land, the elves were soon all but wiped out and they were forced to leave for lands unknown. The few that were left behind were used in slavery. The girls were forced into prostitution. Elves could live up to a hundred years and the younger ones aged 20 were thought to make the best prostitutes. Man brought war and violence into the once peaceful land and vast cities began to spring up. Eventually most of this race were able to forget their old ways and began making peace with neighboring nations. They have a non aggression treaty pact with the dwarven empire that live in the mountains. The lizard like race the Karolth barely tolerate the humans. The winged races known as the Harpies have an uneasy alliance, a race that survives in tribes sometimes making cities in the tree tops of the deep forests.
The words 30 years appear on screen. A small group of well armed people are sneaking up on a house, it is a place of prostitution and this small group of mercenaries are there to free the elf slaves that work there. After they slay the mistress and the bandits they work for, they free the women and a young girl named Kes who is 15 (M.Fox). She ends up living with the mercenaries. The leader of the group named Elkor (A.Eckhart) decides to raise the young elven girl as his own daughter and notices her strange appearance. She is not quite elf but also half human. As the years pass Kes learns the ways of the warrior and how to be stealthy and kill people quietly. One day the camp is attacked and before Elkor is killed he helps young Kes to escape.
The words 25 years now appear on screen
Kes is now in her early 40s and has become a very beautiful young woman. She doesn't know very much about her own people because as the years passed elves have been very rare in this part of the land. She has been treated differently because of her looks. Every couple years she makes her way to to the camp where she used to live and to the place she buried Elkor. Mostly Kes spends her days as a free lance mercenary doing dangerous jobs and silently killing the people she is paid to. On this mission she is sneaking along the roof tops of a large mansion a full moon hangs in the background and she carefully sneaks in through a window. Through dark corridors and past guards and workers she makes her way to a special room where the lord keeps all of his valuables. This lord has been at odds with another family, the ones who have payed her to steal some very expensive jewelry. She Steals them and makes her way back out of the house. In the morning hours she takes them to a man named Orion Helo (C.Cooper), the man that paid her to do the job.
One night she catches a young man by the name of Alexander Wick, a small time thief and pick pocket. It turns out this was a ruse though. He knows who she is, he has been spying on her and keeping tabs. Kes learns that he has been paid to find her. He wants him to meet another elven woman that has been living among the harpies in a small village. When they make the journey into the forest to meet a lady named Vash (M.Pfeiffer), she tells her that she knows who she is. The lord of the human city Exoor Lord Toth (J.Irons) had an affair with an elven woman and was embarassed. He tried to have Kes and her mother killed but the mother was able to save Kes before she was killed. It was an accident she had been forced into prostitution and when Toth found out she was still alive and learned she was living with a band of mercenaries he had them all killed in the hopes that she would die. Vash says that Toth wants to kill the rest of the elves that live in the empire and that Kes needs to find them. She says that a harpie named Anya (N.Watts), beautiful blonde winged haired warrior with magical powers will help her on her quest. Alexander also wants to join her thinking of the possibility of collecting a large payment.
It takes a long journey to find out where the elves have been hiding out. After spending a large amount of gold and talking to the right people she soon learns of a lone dwarf by the name of Zeth living in a cave. He is a solitary male but has contacts all throughout the kingdom and he tells the young girl what she needs to know. Eventually she learns where the Elves are living. It will take a long journy to reach them. Going through vast forests, plains and the trecharous marshlands. When they finally reach the marshlands they are captured by swamp creatures, covered in moss and mud and grime they spend time living in underground passages. To escape, the small band fight their way out and after killing the monsters they are once again free to continue their journey.
The swamp monsters won't be their only challenge. Wolves and the wild beasts that inhabit the continent will attack them. They will also be forced to fight with some of the lords warriors that have been sent out to track down the elves. Eventually they will find the elves living in the mountains in a dwarven city. The elves are planning an attack on the lord. But they need an army. Kes believes that a head on attack on the city even with a small army is suicide. They need just a small band that can sneak through the city during the night undetected.
Meanwhile Toth has other reasons for wanting to kill the elves. It has been proven that Elven blood can give you long lasting life. You will live hundreds of years. His wife named Natalia (S.Sarandon) is a powerfull wizardress and they have plans to rule the kingdom under their fist. Together they believe they can conquor the world.
Under the cover of night Kes leads Alexander, and Anya along with a small group of elves into Lord Zeds manor. After getting into a battle with guards, Kes must face the Lord and Natalia alone but she manages to kill them both in a final long battle. Eventually humans will learn to accept the elves once again and eventually the elven race will come together and start rebuilding their empire with the help of the humans.
Stark’s Comment: The Studio has decided to begin the Season with a major event. At CMP, we have bet strongly for this project. In fact, ‘Kingdom’ has become one of the most expensive movies ever produced by the Studio. We have also chosen an allstars cast. I honestly expect it to become a record breaker. It is too the big opportunity for both Zack Snyder and Megan Fox to definitely become big names at CMP. A curiosity: Snyder, Fox and Irons already worked together past Season in ‘Wild Cards: Battle Of The Rox’.
CROSSOVERS
Romantic Comedy
The Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Paz Vega, Kate Bosworth, Dane Cook, Sienna Miller, Ellen Page, Ben Affleck, Steve Martin
The Director, Producer and Screenwriter: James Bradley
The Plot: Paz and Ryan seems to be the perfect couple. She is a sweet Spanish painter that is making her way on the NYC’s art scene. He is climbing the ladder as executive in a major Wall Street company. But not everything is so simple in their life.
Although Ryan loves Paz very much, he is having an affair with Kate. Kate is a nice and pretty naive woman not particularly intelligent. She is the only daughter of Steve, the President of Ryan’s company, a hyper-protective father. She is also the girlfriend of Ben, another executive of the company, Steve’s right hand and the classic Mr. Perfect. And, if that’s not enough, Kate is the ex girlfriend of Dane.
Dane is Ryan’s best friend. A failed actor that never has money and makes his living playing minor roles in the strangest experimental stage plays in the off-Broadway. Dane’s biggest wish is to recover the love of Kate. And his latest plan for it is trying to make her jealous. To do so, unable to find a new girlfriend, she has hired Ellen. Dane pays her for acting as if she was his new girlfriend. Ellen is a punk, full of piercings and tattoos, and usually she never speaks more than one word sentences, like ‘yeah’, ‘nah’, ‘cool’ or simply ‘ugh’. It was the best Dane’s could find…
So while Dane is always talking Ryan about his love for Kate, Ryan is hiding his best friend his relationship with her. And to complicate things a bit more, Paz and Kate meet in a company’s cocktail and become best friends, which stresses Ryan a bit more.
The friends reunions and dinners between Ryan and Paz, Dane and Ellen and Kate and Ben become very complicated and highly surrealistic situations take place as Dane tries to seduce Kate, Ryan tries to hide what’s going on between him and Kate, Ben acts pretentious and Ellen only speaks with monosyllables while Dane pretends he likes her so much to make Kate jealous.
Paz begins to suspect Ryan has a lover. She tells her friend Kate. So Kate feels so bad and tells Ryan that he has to definitely choose between her and Paz.
Dane meets Sienna, a sexually active blonde with a big problem: she never stops talking in a very irritating way: she makes auto-questions and answers them herself all the time. So when Dane tells Ellen that he does not need her anymore, as he has Sienna, to his surprise, Ellen tells her that she has fallen in love with him and she will kill herself if he rejects her.
But things will get even worse. Paz, worried about her suspicions, wants to know Dane’s opinion. She goes to visit him at the theatre where he is playing a cucumber in a strange play about living vegetables with psychological problems. After the horrendous play, Paz and Dane go for a drink to talk. They drink too much and one thing takes to another and they end up making love. Both feel so guilty for betraying Ryan that way.
So that’s how things are when Steve invites them all to his Connecticut’s cottage to spend a weekend in which the official engagement between Kate and Ben will be announced.
Everything will get out of control during a weekend full of tension.
Steve, whose wife died many years ago, feels attracted by the non-stop talking Sienna. Paz decides that she does not want to lie Ryan and decides to tell him what happened between Dane and her but Dane tries to convince her not too. Kate tells Ryan that she has decided to make public their relationship before her engagement with Ben is announced and Ryan also tries to convince her not too. And in the middle of the mess, Ellen appears pretending to be a maid hired for the weekend to tell Dane that she will kill herself if he does not return with her.
So there are a lot of crossed conversations, secrets visits to one and other bedroom to discuss the many different problems, and a lot of misunderstandings in the conversations during the weekend.
One night, Ryan and Dane are drinking together at Steve’s library and talking about women. They begin laughing and joking. But they start talking too much… Ryan tells Dane about him and Kate. Dane, so jealous, tells then Ryan about him and Paz…
They end up fighting in the floor like two kids. The noise wakes up everybody so they all run to the bedroom. It all leads to a group discussion where all the secrets are revealed. Even some new ones. Steve admits he has fallen in love with Sienna. Dane uses that to tell Sienna he does not really like her but Kate. Ellen tells Dane that she won’t kill herself cause now she loves Ben. Ben admits that he has seduced Ellen the night before. Kate uses that too to tell that she has never really loved Ben and she won’t marry him cause that was only her father’s wish but not hers. She also tells what has been going on lately between Ryan and her. Steve gets mad at Ryan and fires him for seducing her daughter. And Paz breaks up with Ryan and abandons the house.
The weekend ends up with everyone mad at each other.
Sometime later, we see Ryan visiting Dane at his theatre. They haven’t seen each other for a while. Ryan tells his friend that he is publicly dating Kate now. And Dane tells Ryan that he and Paz have begun a relationship after they broke up trying to heal each other’s pain. Finally, Ryan admits he still loves Paz. And Dane admits he still loves Kate. So what are they both doing with the wrong woman?
They all will meet again at a peculiar wedding: Ben and Ellen are getting married. Steve and Sienna are there. And Ryan and Kate and Dane and Paz too.
During the dancing, Ryan and Dane exchange couples. Ryan dances with Paz and tells her he still loves her and asks her to forgive him. Dane asks Kate if she would give him another chance. Paz and Kate give them the same answer: ‘maybe’. So the four of them go on dancing while Steve wildly makes love with Sienna at the kitchen and Ben and Ellen drink a toast to their eternal happiness.
Stark’s Comment: Third movie directed by Bradley after ‘Celebutantes’ and the Best Picture GMA Winner ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’. For this third directing experience, Bradley has chosen a comedy about love and infidelity. None of his usual muses, Scarlett Johansson and Kate Winslet, works in the movie but he already directed Sienna Miller in ‘Celebutantes’. I don’t expect it to be a blockbuster but romantic comedies always work nicely in CMP.
TRACKS OF BLOOD
Action / Exploitation
The Cast: Eliza Dushku, Deanna Russo, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Biel, Jason Statham, Christopher Walken, Antonio Banderas
The Director: Robert Rodriguez
The Producer: Quentin Tarantino / Midnight Movies
The Screenwriter: Joey Stark
The Plot: Jessica (E.Dushku) receives a visit at the Reform School Girls. It’s Pamela (J.Biel), a DEA agent that offers her a deal: she will be released if accepting to help the DEA in an undercover mission. Jessica accepts.
Jessica has to contact the drug dealer that put her in trouble in the past ending up at the Reform School: the eccentric Mr. M.A. (C.Walken). She tells her she is in parole and needs a job. Mr.M.A. offers her to take care of taking a drug cargo from Las Vegas to Suarez, Mexico. Jessica will have to drive a big truck with the drug hidden in its gear.
Pamela tells Jessica that the DEA will watch over her trip and then capture Mr.M.A. and his Mexican partners in a joint operation with Mexican Anti-Drug Department in Suarez. Also, Pamela tries to seduce Jessica but, after some petting, Jessica rejects her and that will create a tense relationship between both women.
Jessica begins her trip in the truck. One night, when she stops to rest in a New Mexico road bar, she sees a girl, Vi (D.Russo) being harassed by some rough local guys. Jessica decides to help her. The guys attack Jessica. In a violent fight, Jessica beats them all up with her karate style. And Vi accepts Jessica’s offer to join her in her trip.
Jessica and Vi travel through the New Mexico desert in the truck. Music, beers and girls talk… One morning, they meet in the middle of nowhere a peculiar man, dressed as a mix of biker and tramp and full of tattoos. He is in the ditch hitchhiking. His bike has broken. The man presents himself just as Ryder (M.Rourke). ‘What do you do for living?’, asks him Jessica. ‘I go from one place to another’, says Biker. Biker joins the girls.
A few hours later, a gang of bikers surrounds the truck. There’s a wild chase between bikers and the truck where some of the bikers suffer spectacular crashes. When the truck finally has to stop, the leader of the bikers, Turk (J.Statham), tells them he is only looking for Ryder and will let the girls free if he can have him. But Jessica decides to fight them. The bikers fight with chains and knives. Jessica uses her karate while Ryder fights with nunchucks. But the bikers are too much and defeat them. Ryder is captured and the bikers take the truck with them. Jessica and Vi are abandoned in the middle of the desert.
During that night, Jessica and Vi initiate a love affair. The next morning, they arrive to a small village and steal an old van. Jessica contacts Pamela and asks her to locate the truck or the whole operation will go to hell. Pamela puts her people to comb the area and finally find the truck in an abandoned warehouse. The girls drive there.
Jessica and Vi get in the warehouse. Turk and his guys are there torturing Ryder. The girls steal them some guns and assault them by surprise. There’s a big gun fight. Most of the bikers are shot down. Finally, Jessica faces Turk. He has been disarmed and begs for mercy. But Jessica does not hesitate: she blows up his head in cold blood.
The girls free Ryder and recover the truck. Ryder tells them who he really is. He is a secret DEA agent whose mission is to control the drug routes from US to Mexico. He also tells them he suspects that Pamela is in fact a betrayer that works for Mr.M.A. In fact, he thinks Pamela wants Jessica’s mission to fail and is using her for her interest.
The trio arrives to Suarez, Mexico. The night before, they sleep in a dirty old motel. And Jessica gets so mad when she discovers that Vi and Ryder make love that night. The morning after, Jessica tells Vi that they will go their own separate ways when the mission ends.
In Suarez, Jessica meets secretly with Pamela who tells them that the DEA and Mexican forces will act as soon as Mr.M.A. and his Mexican partner, Negro (A.Banderas) meet in Negro’s mansion to exchange the truck’s drug and the money.
Jessica meets Mr.M.A. and Negro at the mansion the next morning. To her surprise, Mr.M.A. suddenly tells Jessica he knows she’s working for the DEA. Mr.M.A. is going to kill her but Negro tells him he first would like to have some fun with her. So Negro takes Jessica to a bedroom, ties her up to the bed and get ready to rape her. But in that very same moment the DEA assault the mansion with helicopters and land forces.
It’s a big mess. Outside the mansion, when Ryder and Vi see what’s going on, they decide to enter to rescue Jessica.
There is a brutal fight between police forces and Negro’s men. Bombs, shooting, fire… everything. Vi gets to find Jessica at Negro’s bedroom and liberates her. When they are running out, they find Ryder and Pamela facing each other in a corridor. Pamela confesses Ryder that she in facts works for Mr.M.A. The whole operation was designed to capture Negro and let Mr.M.A. run away, so Mr.M.A. would then become the new drug lord in Mexican territory. After telling that, Pamela shoots Ryder and kills him.
Jessica and Pamela fight in a karate duel. During the fight, Jessica takes an old Spanish sword from the wall and cuts her head.
As Vi and Jessica are running away from the mansion, they see Mr.M.A. and Negro discussing in the gardens of the mansion. Each of them accuses the other of betraying him. A big explosion takes place close to them and when the smoke clears both men have disappeared. The girls don’t know if they are dead or not.
The girls make their way across all the gunfights between police forces and Negro’s men and reach the truck. They drive wildly out of the mansion and run away.
Vi asks Jessica to forgive her for making love with Ryder. As they drive away from Suarez, Jessica tells her she’ll have to think about it.
Stark’s Comment: Sequel of ‘Reform School Girls’. But it has been written by my brother Joey instead of Matt Kubrick. Joey has tried to expand the B-series spirit and the wild violence of the original movie to this sequel. I have approved a bit higher budget this time. Rated NC-17 due to graphic violence and nudity. What can I say? The Studio can afford to lose some money…
WONDER WOMAN: Yes, here it is at last! The awaited movie version of the legendary tv series
written by Dawson Edwards, author of other superheroes movies like ‘The Flash’ or ‘Aquaman’. And the actress chosen to play Wonder Woman is…*drumroll*… Colbie Smulders! Yes, the star from the funny tv series ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has been the chosen one among something like a dozen of candidates. Jon Favreau, director of the ‘Ironman’ movies, has accepted to direct it. Favreau directed past Season the successful remake of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’. He has also worked as an actor in CMP’s movies like ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ and ‘Only In America’.
SILVER SABLE AND THE WILD PACK: This is heroine’s Season in CMP. Silver Sable is the other wonder girl around. And she will have a very special help in this second adventure. Tobey Maguire has accepted to make a crossover from The Avengers’ saga being again Spiderman in this one. Remember that Downey Jr. / Ironman also made a crossover in the first Silver Sable’s movie. And Gerard Butler, seen past Season playing the villain in ‘L.A.Wolf’ will also be in the movie playing Foreigner, one of the members of the Wild Pack. Spiderman and Foreigner are expected to be friends… but also rivals in Silver’s heart.
SILENT HILL: Brad Anderson will make his debut in CMP replacing the initially considered David
Fincher directing this horror production. Lindsay Lohan also debuts in CMP after Scarlett Johansson refused the offer to be in the movie. The movie will have a pretty starry cast for a horror movie, including GMA Winner Susan Sarandon, who can be seen this week too in ‘Kingdom’; GMA Nominee Ariel Gade, not seen in CMP since ‘Change Of Heart’; Amanda Bynes, not seen in CMP since ‘Vorhees: The Early Years’; and no other than GMA Winner Robert Downey Jr., who has taken a rest from playing Ironman once and again accepting a minor role here. Sounds promising.
DEADLY FORCE: Tow more names to add to the cast of Jack Hammer’s cops movie: James Franco, who starred past Season ‘Psycho: Bloodline’, and Elijah Wood, who has not been seen in CMP since ‘Wild Cards: Double Solitaire’. Wood only makes a brief cameo in the movie.
MORE TALES OF UNEXPECTED: As it happened with the first movie, the new three short stories included in this second instalment will count with a long list of stars. GMA Winner Daniel Radcliff (‘Blood Meridian’) and Tilda Swinton (‘Quadrophenia’) will star the story directed by Matt Kubrick. Emma Thompson (‘The Manor’) and John Cleese (the Uncommon Valour saga) star the story directed by David Fincher.
THE DARK TOWER: WASTE LANDS: Ray Winstone, seen past Season in ‘Preacher: All American Family’, returns to this saga. Angela Bassett and Jake Gyllenhaal, his cast mates in the second episode, will also be seen in this one.
CRIME STOPPERS: Unexpected change in this production. David Zucker, director of CMP’s
comedy hits like the first ‘Lieutenant USA’, ‘Q*Bert’ or ‘Bond Scum’, was supposed to be directing this one. But Chad Taylor, not only writer but also producer of it, has decided to replace him. The official reason? The usual ‘creative differences’. He has been urgently replaced by Kevin Smith, who finally makes his debut in CMP. A curiosity: Kevin Smith was considered to direct past Season’s comedy megahit ‘Woodland Creatures’. That time, he was the one replaced and Andy McKay took his place. Smith will also play a minor role in ‘Crime Stoppers’ and has stated that he won’t make any change in the cast set up by Zucker. More talents included in the cast, besides Steve Carrel and Owen Wilson, are Mike Meyers - who had already worked with Zucker in ‘Bond Scum – and Jason Mewes, debutante in CMP.
FIREFLIES IN THE JELLY-JARS: Peculiar title for this new drama developed under the label of Grand Island Movies. The story has the Josh Collins’ drama trademark. And we all know what that means: family conflicts, poor young girl, intense emotions… James Mangold will be working behind the cameras. In front of them, we’ll see Daniel Day Lewis, nominated in past Season’s GMA as Best Starring Couple for ‘Tender Is The Night’. And playing her daughter will be the also GMA Nominee Abigail Breslin, a regular in Collins’ movies. Breslin and Collins have worked together before in ‘Hollyweird’, ‘Babes In Toyland’, ‘Dare To Be Perfect’ and ‘The Fantastic Mansion’.
BULLET WITCH 0: Cillian Murphy has joined the cast of this action production. Murphy has starred before in CMP the drama ‘Change Of Heart’ and he worked in past Season’s Best Picture Winner ‘The Gunpowder Plot’. Kieran Culkin has also joined the cast. His only previous work in CMP was the comedy ‘Q*Bert’.
MARRIED TO THE VILLAIN: CMP has produced parodies of superheroes movies before (remember Ultraman and Lieutenant USA). Now, it is Josh Collins who has decided to laugh at CMP’s superheroes fever with this new parody of the genre. The Studio has already green lighted this comedy but no director or cast members have been made public yet. The only news about it is that Terry Gilliam, who succeeded past Season with ‘Borgel’, has rejected Collins’ offer to direct it.
TRACKS OF BLOOD
By Joey Stark
‘A sequel of Reform School Girls? But why?’ That was exactly what my brother Harry said when I told him I wanted to write ‘Tracks Of Blood’.
‘Reform School Girls’ was the naughtiest film I’ve seen in CMP. It was pure Z-series. And that was its main appeal. Wild girls gangs getting involved in kung fu fights and lesbian relationships in a dark reform school... Wow! Just the premise sounds awful! Even dialogues were deliberately poor. I loved the free spirit of it all. It was the dream of any freak come true. Kubrick and Tarantino didn’t care at all about quality or profits or critical reaction or awards. They just wanted to have fun. Used to suffer the pressure of this industry, I admired and envied that.
So I just wanted to make a sequel even wilder if possible. ‘Tracks Of Blood’ is an exploitation movie full of clichés and stereotyped characters, from the violent gang of bikers to the mexic
an lord of the drug. It mixes again ultra violent set pieces together with spicy sexy moments (a violent lesbian heroine? who would dare to create such character in Hollywood?). The good thing about writing a movie like this is that you just let your imagination run free to extremes without any complex or self-control: the wildest idea you have the better.
Robert Rodriguez is a perfect choice for directing it. First, because it will mean his first reunion with Tarantino in CMP. But also because he has the chance here to recover the spirit of some of his first movies, specially ‘El Maricachi’ and its sequel ‘Desperado’. Those movies were on my mind when writing ‘Tracks Of Blood’ so he was a natural choice.
The cast is, as it has been said, a kind of family reunion. All the talents have worked before with Kubrick, Tarantino or Rodriguez, mainly in CMP’s movies. That way, it would be easier to make them all understand what we were looking for with this movie. And I must say we all have had a great time making it.
I know we’ll have a hard time at box office with this movie, but who cares? Even Harry is happy with it. I saw him laughing and shouting as a kid when we showed him the first copy of the movie.
Thank you, Matt, for letting me write this movie. You know I love to interfere in your franchises, as I did with Wild Cards... In fact, I am considering writing a third adventure for Eliza Dushku’s character. I would recover in it the character played by Michelle Rodriguez in the first movie... We’ll see. It will depend on Harry. I know he hates having net losses with his productions and I am afraid that may happen with a movie like this, only suitable for those like me who love to watch rarities from time to time.
JAMES BRADLEY – ‘CROSSOVERS’
James Bradley returns this week both as writer and director with the comedy ‘Crossovers’. After a few books adaptations, Bradley presents an original comedy that takes a look at a bunch of couples and the ‘crossovers’ between some of their members.
1.Why have you decided to direct this story?
I like to direct some of my pitches from time to time. I don’t see myself directing a big budget production like the Flashman’s movies so I picked up this more modest movie to return as director.
2.The last time you directed was ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’. The movie won the Best Actress and the Best Picture GMAs. Do you think ‘Crossovers’ will have any chance in the next GMAs edition?
Who knows? ‘Crossovers’ is very much based on dialogues and acting. Choosing the right actors and actresses to play the characters was essential to make the story work. I wanted to reunite a nice group of young stars in the movie and I think the cast is one of the main appeals of it. They all have made a wonderful job so maybe some of them will have a chance at the acting categories.
3.Looking back at your career, most of your pitches are based on pretty peculiar premises. You are one of the very few CMP’s authors not interested in superheroes or sci-fi.
Hey, my very first pitch was about a superhero… although he was imaginary *laughs* The most important element for me in a movie are the characters. My favourite part when developing a pitch is the casting phase cause I put the accent in the characters so much, more than special effects or anything. I have written a few big stories like ‘Pompeii’, ‘The Toymaker’ or the Flashman’s mo
vies but even in those big productions creating solid characters was the most important thing for me. I took that to extremes with ‘Things I Forgot To Tell You’, a movie where you just saw five characters talking to the camera.
4.In some ways, ‘Crossovers’ reminds me the ‘fables’ you made with Wes Anderson.
Those three movies that were called ‘fables’ developed very peculiar premises. ‘Crossovers’ is more about normal – or, at least, close to normal - people and their difficulties to establish and keep love relationships looking at it from a comedic perspective. I think this movie is closer to ‘Paperback Story’ than to those fables. It’s a story about love, sex and how stupidly we all act when both things are around.
5.What new stories can we expect from you in the future?
I will keep jumping from original screenplays to books adaptations. I have written many different kinds of stories and I want to go on like that trying new things. Fortunately, I have been quite lucky at box office. My movies have done pretty well although they are not of the kind to make big money. Joey Stark and I are working on some ideas to write something together again like we did with ‘The Funeral Drum’. And, of course, I hope to make at least another two Flashman’s movies. I have so much fun adapting Flashman’s adventures.
DAVID MAKALASTER
BEST SCREENPLAY GMA WINNER
David Makalaster has won his first Best Screenplay GMA with the action fantasy ‘Devil Trigger’, a sophisticated story about angels and demons fighting all over the world. Makalaster seems to be specializing lately in big budget stories – ‘Human Axis’, ‘Magic. The Gathering’, ‘Hawkeye. The Prey’ – that have turned into a succession of box office’s hits. We talk today with one of the most profitable CMP’s authors, Mr. David ‘Blockbuster’ Makalaster.
1.You must be overhelmed by the results of 'Devil Trigger'. The highest net gains ever for a CMP's movie, fifth best box office of alltimes, winner of 3 Golden Moon Awards... Did you expect that much from this movie?
Heck no! It was just another in a long line of creative outlets. Top net gains was a "Whoa"-moment and the GMA awards were another awesome surprise! I was fully expecting it to go a similar way to Gears Of War, which I personally liked.
2.This question is obligatory: will there ever be a sequel of 'Devil Trigger'?
Most likely, yes. But it will definitely be a while, I want to do it right and by now I'm only tossing around several plot candidates without anything solid, really.We'll see more of Attuan though, that's the one certainty.
3.You are specializing later in top budget 'epic fantasy worlds' movies like 'Devil Trigger' or 'Magic - The Gathering'. But you have also written low budget movies like 'Little Tin Goddess', comedies like 'The Metal' and even historical stories like 'Maleficarum'... Which genres do you feel more comfortable with as an author?
The answer may surprise you, so far my more 'original' pitches, in that there were fewest inspirations outside the original idea, have been Little Tin Goddess and One Man's Hell, the horror pieces. Plus, I have lots of submitted/WIP horror pitches too. What can I say, I like to scare.
4.You have also stepped into the superheroes world with the succesful 'Hawkeye'. Don't you think that there are too many superheroes wandering around in CMP?
Only financially successful. Only financially. I am a complete comic book-junkie, so no, I am rather enjoying this trend actually.I just wonder when the serious, original superhero makes his debut in CMP.
5.Let's talk too of two acclaimed and peculiar movies written by you: 3's and 7's and Drawing Dead. I think they may be considered as two of your best works. Can we expect a third movie following them?
Yes, you can. I have it right here in front of me, waiting to be polished off and submitted. I'll just let you sweat a little while I finish it off. I can spoil a little though, it involves family matters and a surprising alliance...
6.You have said some time that you don't care much about box office. But the truth is that your latest movies looked as designed to become blockbusters. Do you feel the pressure of making profits when developing your movies?
Well, okay, I'll admit I sometimes glance towards that. But that is only when I have an idea spanning several movies and want to make sure that the studio gets something back for it. I don't think Mr. Stark would like releasing a 6-part saga that loses 20 mil each just to satisfy my muse-gone-berserk, haha!
7.And how important are awards for you? I mean, after 13 movies released, did you care about winning a GMA?
It's a step up. I mean, previously my movies have only won Production design at best (No offense to the hardworking talents, I just can't remember if any of them won!) so this is huge. 5 awards is a big thing, so a big thank you is due to the voters! I hope you'll like my future movies as well!
8.What stories are you currently working on?
I have a pseudo-series in the works called "Lovecraft Re-Imagined" which is, just as it sounds, re-imagined stories from Howard Phillips Lovecraft Cthulhu mythos. Of those, a pitch based on "The Music Of Erich Zann" has been submitted and "Dagon","The King In Yellow" and one I call "The Begging God" (Working Title) are in the progress of being written.I also have a promising horror pitch called "Mirrorworld" (Also a Working Title) that I think will do well.No, it's not a rip-off of Mirrors, haha.Oh, and if everything goes well, a movie following the rise to power of Mitth’raw’nuruodo.No further spoilers there.
9.What other CMP's authors do you specially follow?
All of them, except Daggle, because well... You know, there's nothing to follow, sadly. For touching and moving, go for Josh Collins. And when my Friday the 13th abstinence kicks in, I see a Kubrick flick.For comedy, there's always Ben Tyler or Steve Connors.And The Last Lawman and Hitman trilogies will always have a spot on my shelf.Likewise with Franwa's The Manor or Edwards' Fallen Kings. And now that Silent Hill is looming ominously in the distance, of course I've got an eye on what Max Aurilius will be releasing.Oh, and Joey Stark, I still have Heirs-trilogy marathon nights, even after 3's and 7's was done, haha.
10. Let's finish talking about your newest movie, 'Bullet Witch 0'.
Another blockbuster oriented movie. It is surprising that you have left aside Hillary Swank, the star of the first movie, and also its director, McG. What's the reason for this prequel - besides making nice profits - and what do you expect from it?
As for the lovely Ms. Swank, her character just wasn't around at the time of this prequel. I hope she'll agree to return for sequels though! And as for McG, he did a terrific job with the original in my mind, but I want to see what other directors can do with this. The bottom-line, bedrock reason for this movie is to do what the game didn't: Develop Maxwell Cougar's character.He was just a run-n-gun merc with little to no backstory. That's about to change. What I'm hoping for from this movie is first and foremost fan acceptance, that I wrote it in a way that fits the Bullet Witch universe. They may not be zealous Jedi crusaders, but the have the final say about what's good and not about our universe.Second, I'm hoping that Renny Harlin can bring some interesting takes to the table.
Prolific, versatile, eccentric… and maybe overvalued? Quentin Tarantino has developed in CMP a most peculiar career, just like out of it. This week, he returns as producer of ‘Tracks Of Blood’, directed by his good friend Robert Rodriguez under the label of Midnight Movies, the independent company ruled by another of his friends, Matt Kubrick. And we take a look at his career in CMP:
WILD CARDS 2: ACES HIGH
(Quentin Tarantino / Matt Kubrick)
B.O.: 80 mill – Net Gains: 46 mill.
Tarantino made his debut in CMP directing the second instalment of the famous Wild Cards series. He always says that he begged Matt Kubrick, writer and producer of the movie, to let him direct it because he was a big fan of the first Wild Cards movie. Tarantino made a great job. ‘Aces High’ – still considered one of the best movies of the long saga - turned Wild Cards into a profitable franchise after the flop of the first movie and settled many of the basis of the future films of the series.
22:01
(Quentin Tarantino / Marcus Trax)
B.O.: 46 – Net Gains: 12 mill.
As usual, Tarantino bet for a risky and peculiar project for his second work in CMP. Most of the length of the movie – besides an introductory and a final sequence – is focussed on a violent gunfight between two mobs’ gangs, leaded by De Niro and Pacino. Audiences did not respond as expected.
ACE BANNER: RETURN TO FURY
(Quentin Tarantino / Matt Kubrick)
B.O.: 25 mill. - Net Losses: 3 mill.
Unnecessary movie any way you look at it. It was the second collaboration between Tarantino as director and Kubrick as writer and producer. Hugh Jackman rejected to play again Ace Banner after the flop of the second movie of the saga and Tarantino and Kubrick tried to resurrect it replacing him with Jason Statham. The experiment didn’t work at all and Ace Banner disappeared without a trace after the flop.
3’s AND 7’s
(Quentin Tarantino / David Makalaster)
B.O.: 65 mill. - Net Gains: 31 mill.
After a rest, Tarantino returned to CMP with a more ‘serious’ project. The adventures and misadventures of a guy (Orlando Bloom) involved in a poker game and the disputed property of a Chinese dragon looked as a perfect story for Tarantino’s style. Critics loved a movie that has kept gaining prestige since the day of its release.
DRAWING DEAD
(Quentin Tarantino / David Makalaster)
B.O.: 118 – Net Gains: 104 mill.
Tarantino directed and produced the sequel of ‘3’s and 7’s’ and he made his first – and only - ‘100’ release in CMP. The sequel was as good as the original – or even better - and moviegoers responded so well. Tarantino got a Best Director nomination at the Golden Moon Awards and felt free to return to new experiments…
REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS
(Matt Kubrick / Matt Kubrick)
B.O.: 21 mill. / Net Losses: 1 mill.
This time, Kubrick and Tarantino exchanged their roles from previous collaborations. Now, Kubrick directed and Tarantino produced. They made a naughty movie about violent girls fighting each other in a reform school. Low budget and deliberate low quality for a production that has become a cult movie with tons of followers.
TRACKS OF BLOOD
(Robert Rodriguez / Joey Stark)
Awaiting release
Tarantino produces again the sequel of ‘Reform School Girls’. And, again, he seems to do just what he wants to do not caring about critical acclaim or box office’s success. Every Tarantino’s movie is a hit or miss as he seems capable of doing the best and the worst. That’s what makes him such an unpredictable and interesting moviemaker.
Two young and sexy stars show up this week as the starring couple of Zack Snyder’s ‘Kingdom’: Megan Fox and Chris Evans. And they have also starred a hot photo session for FHM Magazine too. Here is one of the pictures from the sexy session.
The 10th Edition of the GMA came and went and I could not disagree more with what happened in it. I disliked almost everything around it. Even the ceremony itself was probably the worst I’ve seen. It is ok that the Gala got rid of Will Ferrell introducing it with his costumes but, hey, replacing him with the boring couple made by Alba and McAvoy was like injecting anesthetic to all the audience.
A few remarkable things:
‘The Gunpowder Plot’ stole the Best Picture award to ‘Devil Trigger’. It is not the first time that the Best Picture winner is not the most awarded one. It happened before in Season 4 with ‘The Great War Series: Storm Breaks’ and in Season 8 with ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’. The peculiarity here was that ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ only won that single award! So who was the real winner of the night? ‘Devil Trigger’ as winner of three awards or ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ as winner of Best Picture?
I personally think things would have been more reasonable the other way around: ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ should have won Best Screenplay and Best Director and ‘Devil Trigger’ could have won Best Picture.
’Fallen Kings’ – in my opinion, the best picture of the Season – didn’t win at any of its 5 nominations. An unfair shame. The movie joins the club of other movies that suffered the same bad experience at the GMA: ‘Chevrolet’, ‘The Great War Series: Darkening Skies’ and 'Hollyweird'.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was one of the big surprises of the night winning Best Actor. For once, I
agreed with Charlie Kiggs’ predictions and thought that the guy had nothing to do against Bale and Hoffman. Even Gordon-Levitt himself could not believe it when Kate Hudson read his name. For what I know, he had got much lesser votes in nomination phase than his two rivals. But things changed when voting for the winners and Bale, considered the favourite for the award, will have to wait for another occasion.
It is also funny that the two winners for supporting roles – Joseph Fiennes and Amy Adams – played in fact leading roles. That’s not new neither. Daniel Craig starred ‘1066’ a couple of Seasons ago and he also won Best Supporting Actor. These maladjustments are not so strange compared with the victory of Steven Soderbergh as Best Director in Season 9 for ‘Things I Forgot To Tell You’, a movie where he just shot five monologues with a video camera.
I am still wondering how is it possible that ‘Woodland Creatures’ stole Best Cast to ‘The Gunpowder Plot’… and I think I’ll keep wondering about it for the rest of my life, unable to find any logical answer.
I must say I agree at least with a few winners. Yes, Angelina very much deserved her award (and
the coincidence of watching her on stage with Brad upgraded the glamour of the night) and I agree also that ‘Borgel’ was the Best Adaptation and ‘Human Axis’, the best original concept. In fact, I think this should have been Makalaster’s night but not for ‘Devil Trigger’ – after all, nothing more than a sophisticated action flick – but for ‘Human Axis’, an intelligent reflection about human nature and also an absorbing sci-fi story.
No complaints about Samuel L. Jackson’s double triumph. The disturbing ‘Foul Karma’ worked mainly because of him. And yes, I also want to watch a sequel of the correct – but nothing more than correct – ‘L.A.Wolf’, but I look much forward for the next Flashman’s adventure and specially for a sequel of ‘Devil Trigger’.
Well, that’s what awards ceremonies are made for. Debate and disagreement. The best thing about the GMAs is that these awards are not always as predictable as it might seem. The worst thing is that I keep feeling like if I live in a different planet than the rest of the voters.
SEASON 11 BEGINS
KINGDOM
Fantasy / Action
The Cast: Megan Fox, Chris Evans, Naomi Watts, Jeremy Irons, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Aaron Eckhart, Chris Cooper
The Director: Zack Snyder
The Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
The Plot: After the credits roll a narration begins, while the male voice talks the camera pans over beautiful shots of deserts vast mountains, ancient cities, deep forests and strange flying birds and different animals.
Enter into a mystical world, for thousands of years The Elves ruled the land of Ashlyn. They were once a noble race they were the great thinkers, wrote the history of the world, discovered new things that helped chart the course of time. But when man showed up in the land, the elves were soon all but wiped out and they were forced to leave for lands unknown. The few that were left behind were used in slavery. The girls were forced into prostitution. Elves could live up to a hundred years and the younger ones aged 20 were thought to make the best prostitutes. Man brought war and violence into the once peaceful land and vast cities began to spring up. Eventually most of this race were able to forget their old ways and began making peace with neighboring nations. They have a non aggression treaty pact with the dwarven empire that live in the mountains. The lizard like race the Karolth barely tolerate the humans. The winged races known as the Harpies have an uneasy alliance, a race that survives in tribes sometimes making cities in the tree tops of the deep forests.
The words 30 years appear on screen. A small group of well armed people are sneaking up on a house, it is a place of prostitution and this small group of mercenaries are there to free the elf slaves that work there. After they slay the mistress and the bandits they work for, they free the women and a young girl named Kes who is 15 (M.Fox). She ends up living with the mercenaries. The leader of the group named Elkor (A.Eckhart) decides to raise the young elven girl as his own daughter and notices her strange appearance. She is not quite elf but also half human. As the years pass Kes learns the ways of the warrior and how to be stealthy and kill people quietly. One day the camp is attacked and before Elkor is killed he helps young Kes to escape.
The words 25 years now appear on screen
Kes is now in her early 40s and has become a very beautiful young woman. She doesn't know very much about her own people because as the years passed elves have been very rare in this part of the land. She has been treated differently because of her looks. Every couple years she makes her way to to the camp where she used to live and to the place she buried Elkor. Mostly Kes spends her days as a free lance mercenary doing dangerous jobs and silently killing the people she is paid to. On this mission she is sneaking along the roof tops of a large mansion a full moon hangs in the background and she carefully sneaks in through a window. Through dark corridors and past guards and workers she makes her way to a special room where the lord keeps all of his valuables. This lord has been at odds with another family, the ones who have payed her to steal some very expensive jewelry. She Steals them and makes her way back out of the house. In the morning hours she takes them to a man named Orion Helo (C.Cooper), the man that paid her to do the job.
One night she catches a young man by the name of Alexander Wick, a small time thief and pick pocket. It turns out this was a ruse though. He knows who she is, he has been spying on her and keeping tabs. Kes learns that he has been paid to find her. He wants him to meet another elven woman that has been living among the harpies in a small village. When they make the journey into the forest to meet a lady named Vash (M.Pfeiffer), she tells her that she knows who she is. The lord of the human city Exoor Lord Toth (J.Irons) had an affair with an elven woman and was embarassed. He tried to have Kes and her mother killed but the mother was able to save Kes before she was killed. It was an accident she had been forced into prostitution and when Toth found out she was still alive and learned she was living with a band of mercenaries he had them all killed in the hopes that she would die. Vash says that Toth wants to kill the rest of the elves that live in the empire and that Kes needs to find them. She says that a harpie named Anya (N.Watts), beautiful blonde winged haired warrior with magical powers will help her on her quest. Alexander also wants to join her thinking of the possibility of collecting a large payment.
It takes a long journey to find out where the elves have been hiding out. After spending a large amount of gold and talking to the right people she soon learns of a lone dwarf by the name of Zeth living in a cave. He is a solitary male but has contacts all throughout the kingdom and he tells the young girl what she needs to know. Eventually she learns where the Elves are living. It will take a long journy to reach them. Going through vast forests, plains and the trecharous marshlands. When they finally reach the marshlands they are captured by swamp creatures, covered in moss and mud and grime they spend time living in underground passages. To escape, the small band fight their way out and after killing the monsters they are once again free to continue their journey.
The swamp monsters won't be their only challenge. Wolves and the wild beasts that inhabit the continent will attack them. They will also be forced to fight with some of the lords warriors that have been sent out to track down the elves. Eventually they will find the elves living in the mountains in a dwarven city. The elves are planning an attack on the lord. But they need an army. Kes believes that a head on attack on the city even with a small army is suicide. They need just a small band that can sneak through the city during the night undetected.
Meanwhile Toth has other reasons for wanting to kill the elves. It has been proven that Elven blood can give you long lasting life. You will live hundreds of years. His wife named Natalia (S.Sarandon) is a powerfull wizardress and they have plans to rule the kingdom under their fist. Together they believe they can conquor the world.
Under the cover of night Kes leads Alexander, and Anya along with a small group of elves into Lord Zeds manor. After getting into a battle with guards, Kes must face the Lord and Natalia alone but she manages to kill them both in a final long battle. Eventually humans will learn to accept the elves once again and eventually the elven race will come together and start rebuilding their empire with the help of the humans.
Stark’s Comment: The Studio has decided to begin the Season with a major event. At CMP, we have bet strongly for this project. In fact, ‘Kingdom’ has become one of the most expensive movies ever produced by the Studio. We have also chosen an allstars cast. I honestly expect it to become a record breaker. It is too the big opportunity for both Zack Snyder and Megan Fox to definitely become big names at CMP. A curiosity: Snyder, Fox and Irons already worked together past Season in ‘Wild Cards: Battle Of The Rox’.
CROSSOVERS
Romantic Comedy
The Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Paz Vega, Kate Bosworth, Dane Cook, Sienna Miller, Ellen Page, Ben Affleck, Steve Martin
The Director, Producer and Screenwriter: James Bradley
The Plot: Paz and Ryan seems to be the perfect couple. She is a sweet Spanish painter that is making her way on the NYC’s art scene. He is climbing the ladder as executive in a major Wall Street company. But not everything is so simple in their life.
Although Ryan loves Paz very much, he is having an affair with Kate. Kate is a nice and pretty naive woman not particularly intelligent. She is the only daughter of Steve, the President of Ryan’s company, a hyper-protective father. She is also the girlfriend of Ben, another executive of the company, Steve’s right hand and the classic Mr. Perfect. And, if that’s not enough, Kate is the ex girlfriend of Dane.
Dane is Ryan’s best friend. A failed actor that never has money and makes his living playing minor roles in the strangest experimental stage plays in the off-Broadway. Dane’s biggest wish is to recover the love of Kate. And his latest plan for it is trying to make her jealous. To do so, unable to find a new girlfriend, she has hired Ellen. Dane pays her for acting as if she was his new girlfriend. Ellen is a punk, full of piercings and tattoos, and usually she never speaks more than one word sentences, like ‘yeah’, ‘nah’, ‘cool’ or simply ‘ugh’. It was the best Dane’s could find…
So while Dane is always talking Ryan about his love for Kate, Ryan is hiding his best friend his relationship with her. And to complicate things a bit more, Paz and Kate meet in a company’s cocktail and become best friends, which stresses Ryan a bit more.
The friends reunions and dinners between Ryan and Paz, Dane and Ellen and Kate and Ben become very complicated and highly surrealistic situations take place as Dane tries to seduce Kate, Ryan tries to hide what’s going on between him and Kate, Ben acts pretentious and Ellen only speaks with monosyllables while Dane pretends he likes her so much to make Kate jealous.
Paz begins to suspect Ryan has a lover. She tells her friend Kate. So Kate feels so bad and tells Ryan that he has to definitely choose between her and Paz.
Dane meets Sienna, a sexually active blonde with a big problem: she never stops talking in a very irritating way: she makes auto-questions and answers them herself all the time. So when Dane tells Ellen that he does not need her anymore, as he has Sienna, to his surprise, Ellen tells her that she has fallen in love with him and she will kill herself if he rejects her.
But things will get even worse. Paz, worried about her suspicions, wants to know Dane’s opinion. She goes to visit him at the theatre where he is playing a cucumber in a strange play about living vegetables with psychological problems. After the horrendous play, Paz and Dane go for a drink to talk. They drink too much and one thing takes to another and they end up making love. Both feel so guilty for betraying Ryan that way.
So that’s how things are when Steve invites them all to his Connecticut’s cottage to spend a weekend in which the official engagement between Kate and Ben will be announced.
Everything will get out of control during a weekend full of tension.
Steve, whose wife died many years ago, feels attracted by the non-stop talking Sienna. Paz decides that she does not want to lie Ryan and decides to tell him what happened between Dane and her but Dane tries to convince her not too. Kate tells Ryan that she has decided to make public their relationship before her engagement with Ben is announced and Ryan also tries to convince her not too. And in the middle of the mess, Ellen appears pretending to be a maid hired for the weekend to tell Dane that she will kill herself if he does not return with her.
So there are a lot of crossed conversations, secrets visits to one and other bedroom to discuss the many different problems, and a lot of misunderstandings in the conversations during the weekend.
One night, Ryan and Dane are drinking together at Steve’s library and talking about women. They begin laughing and joking. But they start talking too much… Ryan tells Dane about him and Kate. Dane, so jealous, tells then Ryan about him and Paz…
They end up fighting in the floor like two kids. The noise wakes up everybody so they all run to the bedroom. It all leads to a group discussion where all the secrets are revealed. Even some new ones. Steve admits he has fallen in love with Sienna. Dane uses that to tell Sienna he does not really like her but Kate. Ellen tells Dane that she won’t kill herself cause now she loves Ben. Ben admits that he has seduced Ellen the night before. Kate uses that too to tell that she has never really loved Ben and she won’t marry him cause that was only her father’s wish but not hers. She also tells what has been going on lately between Ryan and her. Steve gets mad at Ryan and fires him for seducing her daughter. And Paz breaks up with Ryan and abandons the house.
The weekend ends up with everyone mad at each other.
Sometime later, we see Ryan visiting Dane at his theatre. They haven’t seen each other for a while. Ryan tells his friend that he is publicly dating Kate now. And Dane tells Ryan that he and Paz have begun a relationship after they broke up trying to heal each other’s pain. Finally, Ryan admits he still loves Paz. And Dane admits he still loves Kate. So what are they both doing with the wrong woman?
They all will meet again at a peculiar wedding: Ben and Ellen are getting married. Steve and Sienna are there. And Ryan and Kate and Dane and Paz too.
During the dancing, Ryan and Dane exchange couples. Ryan dances with Paz and tells her he still loves her and asks her to forgive him. Dane asks Kate if she would give him another chance. Paz and Kate give them the same answer: ‘maybe’. So the four of them go on dancing while Steve wildly makes love with Sienna at the kitchen and Ben and Ellen drink a toast to their eternal happiness.
Stark’s Comment: Third movie directed by Bradley after ‘Celebutantes’ and the Best Picture GMA Winner ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’. For this third directing experience, Bradley has chosen a comedy about love and infidelity. None of his usual muses, Scarlett Johansson and Kate Winslet, works in the movie but he already directed Sienna Miller in ‘Celebutantes’. I don’t expect it to be a blockbuster but romantic comedies always work nicely in CMP.
TRACKS OF BLOOD
Action / Exploitation
The Cast: Eliza Dushku, Deanna Russo, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Biel, Jason Statham, Christopher Walken, Antonio Banderas
The Director: Robert Rodriguez
The Producer: Quentin Tarantino / Midnight Movies
The Screenwriter: Joey Stark
The Plot: Jessica (E.Dushku) receives a visit at the Reform School Girls. It’s Pamela (J.Biel), a DEA agent that offers her a deal: she will be released if accepting to help the DEA in an undercover mission. Jessica accepts.
Jessica has to contact the drug dealer that put her in trouble in the past ending up at the Reform School: the eccentric Mr. M.A. (C.Walken). She tells her she is in parole and needs a job. Mr.M.A. offers her to take care of taking a drug cargo from Las Vegas to Suarez, Mexico. Jessica will have to drive a big truck with the drug hidden in its gear.
Pamela tells Jessica that the DEA will watch over her trip and then capture Mr.M.A. and his Mexican partners in a joint operation with Mexican Anti-Drug Department in Suarez. Also, Pamela tries to seduce Jessica but, after some petting, Jessica rejects her and that will create a tense relationship between both women.
Jessica begins her trip in the truck. One night, when she stops to rest in a New Mexico road bar, she sees a girl, Vi (D.Russo) being harassed by some rough local guys. Jessica decides to help her. The guys attack Jessica. In a violent fight, Jessica beats them all up with her karate style. And Vi accepts Jessica’s offer to join her in her trip.
Jessica and Vi travel through the New Mexico desert in the truck. Music, beers and girls talk… One morning, they meet in the middle of nowhere a peculiar man, dressed as a mix of biker and tramp and full of tattoos. He is in the ditch hitchhiking. His bike has broken. The man presents himself just as Ryder (M.Rourke). ‘What do you do for living?’, asks him Jessica. ‘I go from one place to another’, says Biker. Biker joins the girls.
A few hours later, a gang of bikers surrounds the truck. There’s a wild chase between bikers and the truck where some of the bikers suffer spectacular crashes. When the truck finally has to stop, the leader of the bikers, Turk (J.Statham), tells them he is only looking for Ryder and will let the girls free if he can have him. But Jessica decides to fight them. The bikers fight with chains and knives. Jessica uses her karate while Ryder fights with nunchucks. But the bikers are too much and defeat them. Ryder is captured and the bikers take the truck with them. Jessica and Vi are abandoned in the middle of the desert.
During that night, Jessica and Vi initiate a love affair. The next morning, they arrive to a small village and steal an old van. Jessica contacts Pamela and asks her to locate the truck or the whole operation will go to hell. Pamela puts her people to comb the area and finally find the truck in an abandoned warehouse. The girls drive there.
Jessica and Vi get in the warehouse. Turk and his guys are there torturing Ryder. The girls steal them some guns and assault them by surprise. There’s a big gun fight. Most of the bikers are shot down. Finally, Jessica faces Turk. He has been disarmed and begs for mercy. But Jessica does not hesitate: she blows up his head in cold blood.
The girls free Ryder and recover the truck. Ryder tells them who he really is. He is a secret DEA agent whose mission is to control the drug routes from US to Mexico. He also tells them he suspects that Pamela is in fact a betrayer that works for Mr.M.A. In fact, he thinks Pamela wants Jessica’s mission to fail and is using her for her interest.
The trio arrives to Suarez, Mexico. The night before, they sleep in a dirty old motel. And Jessica gets so mad when she discovers that Vi and Ryder make love that night. The morning after, Jessica tells Vi that they will go their own separate ways when the mission ends.
In Suarez, Jessica meets secretly with Pamela who tells them that the DEA and Mexican forces will act as soon as Mr.M.A. and his Mexican partner, Negro (A.Banderas) meet in Negro’s mansion to exchange the truck’s drug and the money.
Jessica meets Mr.M.A. and Negro at the mansion the next morning. To her surprise, Mr.M.A. suddenly tells Jessica he knows she’s working for the DEA. Mr.M.A. is going to kill her but Negro tells him he first would like to have some fun with her. So Negro takes Jessica to a bedroom, ties her up to the bed and get ready to rape her. But in that very same moment the DEA assault the mansion with helicopters and land forces.
It’s a big mess. Outside the mansion, when Ryder and Vi see what’s going on, they decide to enter to rescue Jessica.
There is a brutal fight between police forces and Negro’s men. Bombs, shooting, fire… everything. Vi gets to find Jessica at Negro’s bedroom and liberates her. When they are running out, they find Ryder and Pamela facing each other in a corridor. Pamela confesses Ryder that she in facts works for Mr.M.A. The whole operation was designed to capture Negro and let Mr.M.A. run away, so Mr.M.A. would then become the new drug lord in Mexican territory. After telling that, Pamela shoots Ryder and kills him.
Jessica and Pamela fight in a karate duel. During the fight, Jessica takes an old Spanish sword from the wall and cuts her head.
As Vi and Jessica are running away from the mansion, they see Mr.M.A. and Negro discussing in the gardens of the mansion. Each of them accuses the other of betraying him. A big explosion takes place close to them and when the smoke clears both men have disappeared. The girls don’t know if they are dead or not.
The girls make their way across all the gunfights between police forces and Negro’s men and reach the truck. They drive wildly out of the mansion and run away.
Vi asks Jessica to forgive her for making love with Ryder. As they drive away from Suarez, Jessica tells her she’ll have to think about it.
Stark’s Comment: Sequel of ‘Reform School Girls’. But it has been written by my brother Joey instead of Matt Kubrick. Joey has tried to expand the B-series spirit and the wild violence of the original movie to this sequel. I have approved a bit higher budget this time. Rated NC-17 due to graphic violence and nudity. What can I say? The Studio can afford to lose some money…
WONDER WOMAN: Yes, here it is at last! The awaited movie version of the legendary tv series
written by Dawson Edwards, author of other superheroes movies like ‘The Flash’ or ‘Aquaman’. And the actress chosen to play Wonder Woman is…*drumroll*… Colbie Smulders! Yes, the star from the funny tv series ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has been the chosen one among something like a dozen of candidates. Jon Favreau, director of the ‘Ironman’ movies, has accepted to direct it. Favreau directed past Season the successful remake of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’. He has also worked as an actor in CMP’s movies like ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ and ‘Only In America’.SILVER SABLE AND THE WILD PACK: This is heroine’s Season in CMP. Silver Sable is the other wonder girl around. And she will have a very special help in this second adventure. Tobey Maguire has accepted to make a crossover from The Avengers’ saga being again Spiderman in this one. Remember that Downey Jr. / Ironman also made a crossover in the first Silver Sable’s movie. And Gerard Butler, seen past Season playing the villain in ‘L.A.Wolf’ will also be in the movie playing Foreigner, one of the members of the Wild Pack. Spiderman and Foreigner are expected to be friends… but also rivals in Silver’s heart.
SILENT HILL: Brad Anderson will make his debut in CMP replacing the initially considered David
Fincher directing this horror production. Lindsay Lohan also debuts in CMP after Scarlett Johansson refused the offer to be in the movie. The movie will have a pretty starry cast for a horror movie, including GMA Winner Susan Sarandon, who can be seen this week too in ‘Kingdom’; GMA Nominee Ariel Gade, not seen in CMP since ‘Change Of Heart’; Amanda Bynes, not seen in CMP since ‘Vorhees: The Early Years’; and no other than GMA Winner Robert Downey Jr., who has taken a rest from playing Ironman once and again accepting a minor role here. Sounds promising.DEADLY FORCE: Tow more names to add to the cast of Jack Hammer’s cops movie: James Franco, who starred past Season ‘Psycho: Bloodline’, and Elijah Wood, who has not been seen in CMP since ‘Wild Cards: Double Solitaire’. Wood only makes a brief cameo in the movie.
MORE TALES OF UNEXPECTED: As it happened with the first movie, the new three short stories included in this second instalment will count with a long list of stars. GMA Winner Daniel Radcliff (‘Blood Meridian’) and Tilda Swinton (‘Quadrophenia’) will star the story directed by Matt Kubrick. Emma Thompson (‘The Manor’) and John Cleese (the Uncommon Valour saga) star the story directed by David Fincher.
THE DARK TOWER: WASTE LANDS: Ray Winstone, seen past Season in ‘Preacher: All American Family’, returns to this saga. Angela Bassett and Jake Gyllenhaal, his cast mates in the second episode, will also be seen in this one.
CRIME STOPPERS: Unexpected change in this production. David Zucker, director of CMP’s
comedy hits like the first ‘Lieutenant USA’, ‘Q*Bert’ or ‘Bond Scum’, was supposed to be directing this one. But Chad Taylor, not only writer but also producer of it, has decided to replace him. The official reason? The usual ‘creative differences’. He has been urgently replaced by Kevin Smith, who finally makes his debut in CMP. A curiosity: Kevin Smith was considered to direct past Season’s comedy megahit ‘Woodland Creatures’. That time, he was the one replaced and Andy McKay took his place. Smith will also play a minor role in ‘Crime Stoppers’ and has stated that he won’t make any change in the cast set up by Zucker. More talents included in the cast, besides Steve Carrel and Owen Wilson, are Mike Meyers - who had already worked with Zucker in ‘Bond Scum – and Jason Mewes, debutante in CMP.FIREFLIES IN THE JELLY-JARS: Peculiar title for this new drama developed under the label of Grand Island Movies. The story has the Josh Collins’ drama trademark. And we all know what that means: family conflicts, poor young girl, intense emotions… James Mangold will be working behind the cameras. In front of them, we’ll see Daniel Day Lewis, nominated in past Season’s GMA as Best Starring Couple for ‘Tender Is The Night’. And playing her daughter will be the also GMA Nominee Abigail Breslin, a regular in Collins’ movies. Breslin and Collins have worked together before in ‘Hollyweird’, ‘Babes In Toyland’, ‘Dare To Be Perfect’ and ‘The Fantastic Mansion’.
BULLET WITCH 0: Cillian Murphy has joined the cast of this action production. Murphy has starred before in CMP the drama ‘Change Of Heart’ and he worked in past Season’s Best Picture Winner ‘The Gunpowder Plot’. Kieran Culkin has also joined the cast. His only previous work in CMP was the comedy ‘Q*Bert’.
MARRIED TO THE VILLAIN: CMP has produced parodies of superheroes movies before (remember Ultraman and Lieutenant USA). Now, it is Josh Collins who has decided to laugh at CMP’s superheroes fever with this new parody of the genre. The Studio has already green lighted this comedy but no director or cast members have been made public yet. The only news about it is that Terry Gilliam, who succeeded past Season with ‘Borgel’, has rejected Collins’ offer to direct it.
TRACKS OF BLOOD
By Joey Stark
‘A sequel of Reform School Girls? But why?’ That was exactly what my brother Harry said when I told him I wanted to write ‘Tracks Of Blood’.
‘Reform School Girls’ was the naughtiest film I’ve seen in CMP. It was pure Z-series. And that was its main appeal. Wild girls gangs getting involved in kung fu fights and lesbian relationships in a dark reform school... Wow! Just the premise sounds awful! Even dialogues were deliberately poor. I loved the free spirit of it all. It was the dream of any freak come true. Kubrick and Tarantino didn’t care at all about quality or profits or critical reaction or awards. They just wanted to have fun. Used to suffer the pressure of this industry, I admired and envied that.
So I just wanted to make a sequel even wilder if possible. ‘Tracks Of Blood’ is an exploitation movie full of clichés and stereotyped characters, from the violent gang of bikers to the mexic
an lord of the drug. It mixes again ultra violent set pieces together with spicy sexy moments (a violent lesbian heroine? who would dare to create such character in Hollywood?). The good thing about writing a movie like this is that you just let your imagination run free to extremes without any complex or self-control: the wildest idea you have the better.Robert Rodriguez is a perfect choice for directing it. First, because it will mean his first reunion with Tarantino in CMP. But also because he has the chance here to recover the spirit of some of his first movies, specially ‘El Maricachi’ and its sequel ‘Desperado’. Those movies were on my mind when writing ‘Tracks Of Blood’ so he was a natural choice.
The cast is, as it has been said, a kind of family reunion. All the talents have worked before with Kubrick, Tarantino or Rodriguez, mainly in CMP’s movies. That way, it would be easier to make them all understand what we were looking for with this movie. And I must say we all have had a great time making it.
I know we’ll have a hard time at box office with this movie, but who cares? Even Harry is happy with it. I saw him laughing and shouting as a kid when we showed him the first copy of the movie.
Thank you, Matt, for letting me write this movie. You know I love to interfere in your franchises, as I did with Wild Cards... In fact, I am considering writing a third adventure for Eliza Dushku’s character. I would recover in it the character played by Michelle Rodriguez in the first movie... We’ll see. It will depend on Harry. I know he hates having net losses with his productions and I am afraid that may happen with a movie like this, only suitable for those like me who love to watch rarities from time to time.
JAMES BRADLEY – ‘CROSSOVERS’
James Bradley returns this week both as writer and director with the comedy ‘Crossovers’. After a few books adaptations, Bradley presents an original comedy that takes a look at a bunch of couples and the ‘crossovers’ between some of their members.
1.Why have you decided to direct this story?
I like to direct some of my pitches from time to time. I don’t see myself directing a big budget production like the Flashman’s movies so I picked up this more modest movie to return as director.
2.The last time you directed was ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’. The movie won the Best Actress and the Best Picture GMAs. Do you think ‘Crossovers’ will have any chance in the next GMAs edition?Who knows? ‘Crossovers’ is very much based on dialogues and acting. Choosing the right actors and actresses to play the characters was essential to make the story work. I wanted to reunite a nice group of young stars in the movie and I think the cast is one of the main appeals of it. They all have made a wonderful job so maybe some of them will have a chance at the acting categories.
3.Looking back at your career, most of your pitches are based on pretty peculiar premises. You are one of the very few CMP’s authors not interested in superheroes or sci-fi.
Hey, my very first pitch was about a superhero… although he was imaginary *laughs* The most important element for me in a movie are the characters. My favourite part when developing a pitch is the casting phase cause I put the accent in the characters so much, more than special effects or anything. I have written a few big stories like ‘Pompeii’, ‘The Toymaker’ or the Flashman’s mo
vies but even in those big productions creating solid characters was the most important thing for me. I took that to extremes with ‘Things I Forgot To Tell You’, a movie where you just saw five characters talking to the camera.4.In some ways, ‘Crossovers’ reminds me the ‘fables’ you made with Wes Anderson.
Those three movies that were called ‘fables’ developed very peculiar premises. ‘Crossovers’ is more about normal – or, at least, close to normal - people and their difficulties to establish and keep love relationships looking at it from a comedic perspective. I think this movie is closer to ‘Paperback Story’ than to those fables. It’s a story about love, sex and how stupidly we all act when both things are around.
5.What new stories can we expect from you in the future?
I will keep jumping from original screenplays to books adaptations. I have written many different kinds of stories and I want to go on like that trying new things. Fortunately, I have been quite lucky at box office. My movies have done pretty well although they are not of the kind to make big money. Joey Stark and I are working on some ideas to write something together again like we did with ‘The Funeral Drum’. And, of course, I hope to make at least another two Flashman’s movies. I have so much fun adapting Flashman’s adventures.
DAVID MAKALASTER
BEST SCREENPLAY GMA WINNER
David Makalaster has won his first Best Screenplay GMA with the action fantasy ‘Devil Trigger’, a sophisticated story about angels and demons fighting all over the world. Makalaster seems to be specializing lately in big budget stories – ‘Human Axis’, ‘Magic. The Gathering’, ‘Hawkeye. The Prey’ – that have turned into a succession of box office’s hits. We talk today with one of the most profitable CMP’s authors, Mr. David ‘Blockbuster’ Makalaster.
1.You must be overhelmed by the results of 'Devil Trigger'. The highest net gains ever for a CMP's movie, fifth best box office of alltimes, winner of 3 Golden Moon Awards... Did you expect that much from this movie?
Heck no! It was just another in a long line of creative outlets. Top net gains was a "Whoa"-moment and the GMA awards were another awesome surprise! I was fully expecting it to go a similar way to Gears Of War, which I personally liked.
2.This question is obligatory: will there ever be a sequel of 'Devil Trigger'?
Most likely, yes. But it will definitely be a while, I want to do it right and by now I'm only tossing around several plot candidates without anything solid, really.We'll see more of Attuan though, that's the one certainty.
3.You are specializing later in top budget 'epic fantasy worlds' movies like 'Devil Trigger' or 'Magic - The Gathering'. But you have also written low budget movies like 'Little Tin Goddess', comedies like 'The Metal' and even historical stories like 'Maleficarum'... Which genres do you feel more comfortable with as an author?
The answer may surprise you, so far my more 'original' pitches, in that there were fewest inspirations outside the original idea, have been Little Tin Goddess and One Man's Hell, the horror pieces. Plus, I have lots of submitted/WIP horror pitches too. What can I say, I like to scare.
4.You have also stepped into the superheroes world with the succesful 'Hawkeye'. Don't you think that there are too many superheroes wandering around in CMP?
Only financially successful. Only financially. I am a complete comic book-junkie, so no, I am rather enjoying this trend actually.I just wonder when the serious, original superhero makes his debut in CMP.
5.Let's talk too of two acclaimed and peculiar movies written by you: 3's and 7's and Drawing Dead. I think they may be considered as two of your best works. Can we expect a third movie following them?
Yes, you can. I have it right here in front of me, waiting to be polished off and submitted. I'll just let you sweat a little while I finish it off. I can spoil a little though, it involves family matters and a surprising alliance...6.You have said some time that you don't care much about box office. But the truth is that your latest movies looked as designed to become blockbusters. Do you feel the pressure of making profits when developing your movies?
Well, okay, I'll admit I sometimes glance towards that. But that is only when I have an idea spanning several movies and want to make sure that the studio gets something back for it. I don't think Mr. Stark would like releasing a 6-part saga that loses 20 mil each just to satisfy my muse-gone-berserk, haha!
7.And how important are awards for you? I mean, after 13 movies released, did you care about winning a GMA?
It's a step up. I mean, previously my movies have only won Production design at best (No offense to the hardworking talents, I just can't remember if any of them won!) so this is huge. 5 awards is a big thing, so a big thank you is due to the voters! I hope you'll like my future movies as well!
8.What stories are you currently working on?
I have a pseudo-series in the works called "Lovecraft Re-Imagined" which is, just as it sounds, re-imagined stories from Howard Phillips Lovecraft Cthulhu mythos. Of those, a pitch based on "The Music Of Erich Zann" has been submitted and "Dagon","The King In Yellow" and one I call "The Begging God" (Working Title) are in the progress of being written.I also have a promising horror pitch called "Mirrorworld" (Also a Working Title) that I think will do well.No, it's not a rip-off of Mirrors, haha.Oh, and if everything goes well, a movie following the rise to power of Mitth’raw’nuruodo.No further spoilers there.
9.What other CMP's authors do you specially follow?
All of them, except Daggle, because well... You know, there's nothing to follow, sadly. For touching and moving, go for Josh Collins. And when my Friday the 13th abstinence kicks in, I see a Kubrick flick.For comedy, there's always Ben Tyler or Steve Connors.And The Last Lawman and Hitman trilogies will always have a spot on my shelf.Likewise with Franwa's The Manor or Edwards' Fallen Kings. And now that Silent Hill is looming ominously in the distance, of course I've got an eye on what Max Aurilius will be releasing.Oh, and Joey Stark, I still have Heirs-trilogy marathon nights, even after 3's and 7's was done, haha.
10. Let's finish talking about your newest movie, 'Bullet Witch 0'.
Another blockbuster oriented movie. It is surprising that you have left aside Hillary Swank, the star of the first movie, and also its director, McG. What's the reason for this prequel - besides making nice profits - and what do you expect from it?As for the lovely Ms. Swank, her character just wasn't around at the time of this prequel. I hope she'll agree to return for sequels though! And as for McG, he did a terrific job with the original in my mind, but I want to see what other directors can do with this. The bottom-line, bedrock reason for this movie is to do what the game didn't: Develop Maxwell Cougar's character.He was just a run-n-gun merc with little to no backstory. That's about to change. What I'm hoping for from this movie is first and foremost fan acceptance, that I wrote it in a way that fits the Bullet Witch universe. They may not be zealous Jedi crusaders, but the have the final say about what's good and not about our universe.Second, I'm hoping that Renny Harlin can bring some interesting takes to the table.
Prolific, versatile, eccentric… and maybe overvalued? Quentin Tarantino has developed in CMP a most peculiar career, just like out of it. This week, he returns as producer of ‘Tracks Of Blood’, directed by his good friend Robert Rodriguez under the label of Midnight Movies, the independent company ruled by another of his friends, Matt Kubrick. And we take a look at his career in CMP:
WILD CARDS 2: ACES HIGH
(Quentin Tarantino / Matt Kubrick)
B.O.: 80 mill – Net Gains: 46 mill.
Tarantino made his debut in CMP directing the second instalment of the famous Wild Cards series. He always says that he begged Matt Kubrick, writer and producer of the movie, to let him direct it because he was a big fan of the first Wild Cards movie. Tarantino made a great job. ‘Aces High’ – still considered one of the best movies of the long saga - turned Wild Cards into a profitable franchise after the flop of the first movie and settled many of the basis of the future films of the series.
22:01
(Quentin Tarantino / Marcus Trax)
B.O.: 46 – Net Gains: 12 mill.
As usual, Tarantino bet for a risky and peculiar project for his second work in CMP. Most of the length of the movie – besides an introductory and a final sequence – is focussed on a violent gunfight between two mobs’ gangs, leaded by De Niro and Pacino. Audiences did not respond as expected.
ACE BANNER: RETURN TO FURY
(Quentin Tarantino / Matt Kubrick)
B.O.: 25 mill. - Net Losses: 3 mill.
Unnecessary movie any way you look at it. It was the second collaboration between Tarantino as director and Kubrick as writer and producer. Hugh Jackman rejected to play again Ace Banner after the flop of the second movie of the saga and Tarantino and Kubrick tried to resurrect it replacing him with Jason Statham. The experiment didn’t work at all and Ace Banner disappeared without a trace after the flop.
3’s AND 7’s
(Quentin Tarantino / David Makalaster)
B.O.: 65 mill. - Net Gains: 31 mill.
After a rest, Tarantino returned to CMP with a more ‘serious’ project. The adventures and misadventures of a guy (Orlando Bloom) involved in a poker game and the disputed property of a Chinese dragon looked as a perfect story for Tarantino’s style. Critics loved a movie that has kept gaining prestige since the day of its release.
DRAWING DEAD
(Quentin Tarantino / David Makalaster)
B.O.: 118 – Net Gains: 104 mill.
Tarantino directed and produced the sequel of ‘3’s and 7’s’ and he made his first – and only - ‘100’ release in CMP. The sequel was as good as the original – or even better - and moviegoers responded so well. Tarantino got a Best Director nomination at the Golden Moon Awards and felt free to return to new experiments…
REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS
(Matt Kubrick / Matt Kubrick)
B.O.: 21 mill. / Net Losses: 1 mill.
This time, Kubrick and Tarantino exchanged their roles from previous collaborations. Now, Kubrick directed and Tarantino produced. They made a naughty movie about violent girls fighting each other in a reform school. Low budget and deliberate low quality for a production that has become a cult movie with tons of followers.
TRACKS OF BLOOD
(Robert Rodriguez / Joey Stark)
Awaiting release
Tarantino produces again the sequel of ‘Reform School Girls’. And, again, he seems to do just what he wants to do not caring about critical acclaim or box office’s success. Every Tarantino’s movie is a hit or miss as he seems capable of doing the best and the worst. That’s what makes him such an unpredictable and interesting moviemaker.
Two young and sexy stars show up this week as the starring couple of Zack Snyder’s ‘Kingdom’: Megan Fox and Chris Evans. And they have also starred a hot photo session for FHM Magazine too. Here is one of the pictures from the sexy session.
The 10th Edition of the GMA came and went and I could not disagree more with what happened in it. I disliked almost everything around it. Even the ceremony itself was probably the worst I’ve seen. It is ok that the Gala got rid of Will Ferrell introducing it with his costumes but, hey, replacing him with the boring couple made by Alba and McAvoy was like injecting anesthetic to all the audience.
A few remarkable things:
‘The Gunpowder Plot’ stole the Best Picture award to ‘Devil Trigger’. It is not the first time that the Best Picture winner is not the most awarded one. It happened before in Season 4 with ‘The Great War Series: Storm Breaks’ and in Season 8 with ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’. The peculiarity here was that ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ only won that single award! So who was the real winner of the night? ‘Devil Trigger’ as winner of three awards or ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ as winner of Best Picture?
I personally think things would have been more reasonable the other way around: ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ should have won Best Screenplay and Best Director and ‘Devil Trigger’ could have won Best Picture.
’Fallen Kings’ – in my opinion, the best picture of the Season – didn’t win at any of its 5 nominations. An unfair shame. The movie joins the club of other movies that suffered the same bad experience at the GMA: ‘Chevrolet’, ‘The Great War Series: Darkening Skies’ and 'Hollyweird'.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was one of the big surprises of the night winning Best Actor. For once, I
agreed with Charlie Kiggs’ predictions and thought that the guy had nothing to do against Bale and Hoffman. Even Gordon-Levitt himself could not believe it when Kate Hudson read his name. For what I know, he had got much lesser votes in nomination phase than his two rivals. But things changed when voting for the winners and Bale, considered the favourite for the award, will have to wait for another occasion.It is also funny that the two winners for supporting roles – Joseph Fiennes and Amy Adams – played in fact leading roles. That’s not new neither. Daniel Craig starred ‘1066’ a couple of Seasons ago and he also won Best Supporting Actor. These maladjustments are not so strange compared with the victory of Steven Soderbergh as Best Director in Season 9 for ‘Things I Forgot To Tell You’, a movie where he just shot five monologues with a video camera.
I am still wondering how is it possible that ‘Woodland Creatures’ stole Best Cast to ‘The Gunpowder Plot’… and I think I’ll keep wondering about it for the rest of my life, unable to find any logical answer.
I must say I agree at least with a few winners. Yes, Angelina very much deserved her award (and
the coincidence of watching her on stage with Brad upgraded the glamour of the night) and I agree also that ‘Borgel’ was the Best Adaptation and ‘Human Axis’, the best original concept. In fact, I think this should have been Makalaster’s night but not for ‘Devil Trigger’ – after all, nothing more than a sophisticated action flick – but for ‘Human Axis’, an intelligent reflection about human nature and also an absorbing sci-fi story.No complaints about Samuel L. Jackson’s double triumph. The disturbing ‘Foul Karma’ worked mainly because of him. And yes, I also want to watch a sequel of the correct – but nothing more than correct – ‘L.A.Wolf’, but I look much forward for the next Flashman’s adventure and specially for a sequel of ‘Devil Trigger’.
Well, that’s what awards ceremonies are made for. Debate and disagreement. The best thing about the GMAs is that these awards are not always as predictable as it might seem. The worst thing is that I keep feeling like if I live in a different planet than the rest of the voters.
posted by Harry at
4:03 AM
<< Home