FEBRUARY, 5


SILENT HILL: THE RETURN

Horror

The Cast: Dakota Fanning, Ray Winstone, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Jay Hernandez

The Director: Brad Anderson
The Screenwriter and Producer: Max Arilius

The Plot:

The movie opens with a nightmarish sequence of an amusment park, twisted and contorted into nothing any child would ever want to visit. The metal grating that makes up the floors covered a mixture or rust and blood. Cages surround the area, filled with Mascots of a Rabbit named Mr. Hoppy, all of them screaming in agony as they bleed out.

Heather(Dakota Fanning) wakes up from this nightmare in a food court restaurant at the mall called Happy Burger. She realizes it late and takes out her cell phone to call her father, all while noticing a man watching from an adjacent table. She makes her call and begins to walk out of the Happy Burger and is confront by the man, Det. Douglas Cartland(Ray Winstone). He tells her he has been having dreams about her, and a great evil that will arise in here near future. He asks her Childhood, but Heather tells him to get lost and pushes him away, before running to an exit of the mall.

When she reaches the exit, its locked and the steel gate behind her closes. She hears a loud grating noise and then it stops. She yells for someone to help her but no one answers. She moves to the steel gate and easily it up. She slides under it and when she reaches the other side, she notices the mall is empty. Completely devoid or any life, totally silent. She moves through the mall finally finding an unlocked door. When she enters it she finds herself in a army surplus store. There’s blood on the floor and the trail leads out the back door. Heather moves behind the counter and finds a small calibur handgun that is loaded with 12 rounds. She moves out the back door toward the blood trail and into a narrow hall where she sees a woman, Claudia Wolf (J. Jason-Leigh). Heather asks her what’s going on and where is everyone? Claudia looks to her and smiles "They've gone to witness the Beginning. The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind. Remember me, and your true self as well, also that which you must become. The one who will lead us to Paradise with blood stained hands. You are needed....to bring the hand of god."

Heather looks at her confused and a siren begins to sound.....Heather falls to the floor and passes out.

She wakes up in a the otherworld, a nightmarish world of blood, rust and metal. She appears to be in a Library with a young man in his mid-twenties. He walks over to her and Shakes her hand telling her that his name is Vicent (J. Hernandez). He tells he is working with Claudia, but that she is totally brainwashed and that he is on Heather’s Side. Heather walks over to a small sink and turns it on. Blood begins to poor and Heather head begins to spin, Vincent trys to help her...Heather is suddenly back in the real world, alone again.

Heather leaves the library, the gun still in her pocket, clouds covering the sky overhead. She reaches for her cell phone, but it is nowhere to be found, so she rushes home to her father.

She reaches the apartment and its lifeless as she enters and climbs the stairs to her third floor apartment. She enters the apartment and see's he father sitting in his chair in front of the TV. The TV is all snow, and is crackling loudly as Heather moves toward the chair. She touches her father’s Shoulder and he does not move. Heather moves around to his side and sees that his face is gone, the front of his skull removed, blood covering his shirt. She hears someone laughing outside and up the fire escape. Heather rushes out the window and to the roof. Heather asked "Why did do this?" and Claudia replied "Revenge for 16 years ago for one thing. If not for him our dream would have come true! And then, he took you away from us....and to fill your heart with hatred, it must be this way!" Claudia frowned for a moment "You must try to remember me, and your true self as well." The frown turned into an evil smile" You will birth a God and build an eternal Paradise!" Claudia montioned to the darkness and out walked and hellish figure. Covered in blood, a executioners mask on it head and two long blades for arms, it screamed loudly.

"Besides, he killed your father. I merely gave the order" Claudia said "So, what will you do? I’ll be waiting, where all begins. In the town of Silent Hill"

Claudia disapeared into the shadows and the creature attacked. Heather Pulled out the Handgun and fire off 3 wild shots, slowing the creature down. Up from the fire escape came Det. Cartland and the creature turned to him and rushed him. Heather fired two more shots, one slamming into the creatures head, knocking it to the ground. Cartland hand enough time to pull out his revolver and execute the creature with 4 rounds to the head. Heather began to cry and asked Cartland why he was following her. He said he had been hired by Claudia to find her and her father and then began having those dreams. Cartland ask her what she was gonna do now and Heather replied " I’m going to Silent Hill. I don’t know what kind of hell is waiting for me there, but I’ve got no other choice. I don’t care about God or Paradise... If that’s what she believes in then fine. But she won’t get away with what she did. When I find her, I’ll kill her myself." Cartland looked at her "You know revenge doesn't solve anything.." Heather looked at Cartland " Maybe not, but that’s what I’m going to do."

Cartland decided to give her a ride to Silent Hill, so he could at least keep an eye on her. After what happened to her father, he felt obligated to make sure she was ok. On the journey there, Douglas explains that Vincent left him a message, telling them to look for a man named Leonard Wolf, whilst Heather reads a memo left by her father before his death, which briefly recounts the events of Silent Hill, and reveals that she is the baby girl that was left to Harry Mason – her adoptive father – at the conclusion of the first movie, after he destroyed the god birthed by Alessa Gillespie. Claudia seeks Heather to birth the cult's god, since Heather – the girl given to Harry, now grown up – is in fact a reincarnation of Alessa.

Upon arriving in Silent Hill, which is once more abandoned and shrouded in fog, Heather checks Brookhaven Hospital for Leonard Wolf. Shortly after entering the hospital, she discovers a ringing telephone in an abandoned room and answers it. Leonard is the caller, and mistaking Heather for Claudia, speaks angrily against Claudia’s beliefs. Heather protests the misunderstanding forcefully, and Leonard reveals he is Claudia's father after becoming convinced she is telling the truth. Heather becomes uncomfortable and mentions that Claudia murdered her father. Leonard notices the hatred in her voice and decides they are mutual allies. He disapproves of Claudia's actions to rebirth the god, like Heather, and initially agrees to help her, offering the use of an artifact later identified as the "Seal of Metatron". When the two meet, however, Leonard, who takes the form of a monster, tries to kill Heather after discovering she is not a cult member. Heather subsequently defeats him.

Returning from the Hospital, Heather meets Vincent who directs her to a church via the Amusement Park, purportedly at Douglas' request. Upon Heather's arrival the amusement park, she finds herself back in the Otherworld, in scenes identical to her dream at the start of the game, but this time manages to find a key to halt the rollercoaster for long enough to jump off safely. On the other side of a (literally) haunted mansion ride, she finds Douglas, wounded after an encounter with Claudia but still alive. Leaving him behind at his request, she finally reaches the Church and confronts Claudia with Vincent nearby, but at the final confrontation Claudia stabs Vincent to death, and dismisses the Seal of Metatron he had planned to use as useless. Claudia looks to Heather and smiles "Alessa, I’m saddened that you didn’t agree to this on your own. But I thank you for nurturing God with all the hate in your hear"

Heather collapses in pain under the pressure of holding the god inside her, the anger and hatred she holds towards Claudia only intensifying it, and begins to turn blood-red all over. Heather then uses the pendant item Harry left Heather, which contains a sample of aglaophotis, the chemical synthesized by Michael Kaufmann in the first Silent Hill for the purpose of killing the god; Heather swallows the sample and proceeds to vomit out the fetal god. Horrifie..Claudia pushes Heather before she can stomp on the "god," picks it up, and swallows the god's fetus "Alessa, you cannot kill God." Her skin turns red, and she is clearly in pain. "I will... I will birth God... If you can’t do it Alessa, I will...." Claudia begins to scream and bleed out of her eyes before she falls into a hole in the floor. Heather follows and finds that a weak version of the so-called god has been born. She kills it...and leaves the collasping area.

She meets up with Cartland "Is it really over?" he said. Heather replys "Not yet. You’re still alive." She approaches with her knife, but starts laughing. "Just joking" Cartland looks at her and smiles "You’ve got terrible taste..Heather. Did you..." Heather interupted "You don’t have to call me that. I’m not hiding anymore....Just call me Cheryl. The name my father gave me....." Fade to Black.


Stark’s Comment:
‘Silent Hill’ became one of the most successful horror movies ever released by CMP. It made an outstanding box office of 141 millions and net gains of 106 millions. Now, Arilius and Anderson team up again for a sequel with new characters and a completely different cast. My hope is that they can repeat the wonderful numbers of the original film.

Behind The Scenes:
-Cameron Diaz refused to be in this movie. She admitted she was not interested in working in the sequel of a horror movie. Jennifer Jason-Leigh replaced her.
-Shia LaBeouf also refused to be in the movie. And his reason was the same. Jay Hernandez took his place.
-There was a rumor during pre-production phase about David Fincher directing this sequel. Remember that Fincher was Arilius’ first choice to direct the first movie. But, again, Brad Anderson directed it instead of Fincher.

THE HELLBOWL

Horror / Comedy

The Cast: Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, Michael Cera, John Cho, Christina Ricci, Toni Collette, Luis Guzman, Alec Baldwin

The Director: Neil Jordan
The Screenwriters: Matt Kubrick & Josh Collins
The Producer: Midnight Movies

The Plot:

A trailer starts where we see a girl walking through a high school. The narrator states that she is the new girl in town her name is Nikki. As the trailer goes on it shows how great her small Texas town is. But soon she will discover that the cheer-leading team isn't all that is cracked up to be. The horror and gore mounts up we see teen girls dressed in cheerleader outfits chasing people with chainsaws and tearing into people. The narrator goes onto say: when Nikki's life is turned upside down, she has to take matters into her own hands. We see a wide shot of Nikki dressed in her uniform carrying a large chainsaw and she screams this stops now! She comes running at a girl screaming with her chainsaw revved up and quick shots of girls having a chainsaw fight. As the action mounts the Oingo Boingo song little girls begins playing over the action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jItz-uNjoZA
Finally the narrator states coming soon from Midnight Movies ‘The Texas Chainsaw Cheerleaders’!

The movie then begins...

A small group of humans must overcome incredible odds during a coming-of-apocalypse invasion of zombies, vampires, werewolves and a biker gang of demons. 7 humans are seen alive trying to survive the onslaught of werewolves, zombies and vampires on a beach. Chuck (Tim Allen) is an older chainsaw weilding man with a son, Dale (Michael Cera) who uses a sawed off double barrell shotgun. Cotton (John Cho) is a young Korean man who uses a samurai sword. Chauncey (Martin Lawrence) is a military man with access to guns and explosives. Candie (Christina Ricci) is a stripper who managed to avoid being killed up to this point by hanging out with the right people. Peggy (Toni Collette) is a truck stop waitress who wears her 'Peggy' nametag the entire film. George (Luis Guzman) is a Latino professional wrestler.

The survivors are spotted during the beach battle by a mysterious man known as Drake Ramsey(Alec Baldwin). He convinces them to come along with him to get them to safety. The group, figuring it's better to be with someone else who has a car decides to go with Drake. Little do they know that they are actually being taken to an abandoned sports arena. Once they get there, the gang is mobbed by Drake's goons who take them into a locker room and leave them there until further notice.

Time passes and they are escorted to the middle of the arena. An audience of humans are sitting in the crowd and the group of people figure out that they are not the only survivors in this pre-apocalyse world. Drake's voice is heard on the loudspeaker after the lights are turned on bright on them. "Welcome to the HELLBOWL! A no holds barred warzone between these lucky humans and the monsters we're trying to get rid of. Those who survive...get to keep their lives!"

The crowd goes wild. "Llllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeet's get ready to rummmmmmmmmmmble!" Drake says. Now the humans must work together to fend off the overcoming numbers of vampires, zombies and werewolves. The audience is blocked off from being attacked. There are vampire cheerleaders in a pen blocked off from the arena cheering on the monsters. There is no escape for the people because they are surrounded by all the monsters! In the middle of the big battle, a gang of demonic creatures rides from out of hell on their motorcycles. Upon their arrival, one is already killed from Cotton's blade the second they ride into the arena.

One positive thing for the people is the fact that the vampires, zombies, werewolves and demons do not get along very well. So not only are the humans fighting the monsters, the monsters are fighting each other as well! Of the humans, George is the first to be killed by being eaten by a zombie. He would return as a zombie, only to get his head blown off by Dale. Candie is the second one to go when she is attacked and implied raped by a group of vampires. Drake gets on the loudspeaker and says "Awww man, the scantily clad hot chick is dead!" to which the crowd boos and throws their drinks and popcorn.

Peggy is the third to die by decapitation from a demon's sword. By then, most of the creatures have been killed off by either each other or the humans. When Chuck is bitten by a werewolf, he asks Dale to chainsaw his arms and legs off. Dale does so. Cotton is attacked by vampires and becomes one himself. Dale is the next one to go, being attacked by a zombie. Chauncey uses everything he's got. Guns, explosives to take out the rest of the zombies, werewolves, vampires and demons.

"Oh hell yah, that's what I'm talking about. The fucking black guy finally survived!" he shouts at the top of his lungs. Drake gets on the loudspeaker and says, "Oh it's not over yet. There's still one more creature we had in mind in case you fuckers made it this far." A door opens and a young girl with a creepy face strolls out. This is a representation of horror films' over-usage of creepy little girls in their movies. Chauncey has a puzzled expression on his face. The girl says, "Take me home with you. I'm not evil. I promise." Chauncey punches the little girl in the face. He has her pinned to the ground with his foot while her eyes start glowing red almost turning into a monster. Chauncey holds the gun to her face and says, "Take this home, bitch." He fires, getting her blood splattered on his face.

The crowd goes wild, confetti drops from the ceiling as Chauncey soaks in the victory.


Stark’s Comment:
A more than intentional B-movie. Not always a reunion of CMP’s writers means an ambitious artsy movie… Collins and Kubrick succeeded with their first co-written work, ‘Foul Karma’, and now they have decided to have some fun… A wild, very wild and freak comedy that pokes fun at itself. The film intentionally makes little to no sense and focuses on funny cheesy lines and ultra violence. The release includes for the first time in a CMP’s movie a fake trailer ala ‘Grindhouse’. Who knows, it might even work at box office…

Behind The Scenes:
-The CMP’s Make Up Department has created a singled specific characterization for more than 100 characters including vampires, werewolves, zombies and other creatures.
-Some special effects and blood spreading moments were deliberately exaggerated and bad done to make the movie look more like a B-series movie.
-The screenplay’s authors had already written the screenplay when they decided to add the surprise final showdown with the horror films’ favorite villain, a creepy little girl.

FADED

Comedy / Romance

The Cast: Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, The Sklar Brothers, Mr.T

The Director: Cameron Crowe
The Screenwriter: Trent Nielsen

The Plot:

Danny (Rudd) is a one-hit wonder who now runs a very unprofitable record shop from his own house. Pushed by his pressing friends, two identical twins named Michael and Jackson (The Sklar Brothers), he joins a local singing contest which he unexpectedly wins. The prize is an all-expense-paid trip for three to Hawaii.

He flies to Hawaii, tagging Michael and Jackson with him since it was them who had brought him to that contest at the first place. While the three of them was trying to learn how to surf, Danny meets Polly (Deschanel) who happens to be really good at surfing. He ditches Michael and Jackson on their first night in Hawaii to take Polly to a dinner on one of the most expensive restaurants around and puts the expense under the signing contest administrator’s tab.

However, during the dinner, Danny gets into a fight with Mr. T. who happens to be there too after he accidentally trips him over. Mr. T. threatens to kill Danny if he stays being that way. Well, he did not. He just thrashes Danny’s hotel room. Danny, Michael and Jackson gets thrown out of the hotel after the administrations discovers about the trashed room.

Having nothing to sleep over, he decides to sleep over Polly’s house. Michael and Jackson sleeps on the beach while Danny is having fun while fucking Polly. For a moment, Michael and Jackson hates Danny for forgetting them just because of a girl.

The next morning, Danny discovers that Polly was once a groupie he used to sleep with when he discovers her old diary which he had found on the garbage bin. Danny cannot believed he forgot about her. Shocked, he runs away from her house and he tries to find Michael and Jackson.

He finds Michael and Jackson by the beach.

“Man, I know you ain’t the best dude in the world but dumping us so you can fuck a girl?” Michael begins.

“Yeah, man, bros before hos.” Jackson continues.

“It ain’t happening again, I swear to God. Now, let’s get out of here.” Danny tells them.

Now, the trio gets back to mainland US. When they get there, they are bombarded by lots of paparazzis. For the next couple of minutes, they try to avoid the paparazzis without even knowing why they are interested in them.

When Danny got home, he watches TV to see what the fuzz is all about. He finds out that the media found out about the ‘trashed room’ incident. Suddenly, a major record label offers him a contract which he immediately takes up.

He’s back on his career, with Michael and Jackson as his managers. Often, while he is playing at a concert, he sees glimpses of Polly until he realizes that they are only his imagination which was triggered by his desire to see Polly again.

In the ending scene of the film which shows Danny walking in an empty stadium hall, there’s a voice-over by him which says, “I used to be faded. Now, I am not faded but I think my heart is.”


Stark’s Comment:
Ok, let’s make it clear from the very beginning: this is not another ‘The Rock Star’. Nielsen has made a comedic approach to the figure of the decadent rock star. Once said so, it is difficult to know if a movie with Mr.T can work in box office.

Behind The Scenes:
-This is, in fact, the first pitch Trent Nielsen sent to CMP.
-The Sklar Brothers and Mr.T did not appear in the first final draft of the screenplay. Their characters were added when the shooting was about to begin.
-Cameron Crowe, director of the awarded CMP’s musical ‘Only In America’, had not directed any movie for the Studio since he won the Best Director GMA for that one. His name sounded related to movies like ‘The Beatles’ or ‘Running On Empty’, among others, but all his attempts of returning to CMP were frustrated until this one.


COEN & WARSHINSKI: Steve Connors leaves aside for a moment his games adaptations to return to comedy, a genre where he had his biggest success with ‘Mary’s Dark Side’. Now he has gone for a big bet. This comedy will mean the interesting reunion of the two most successful comedians in CMP: Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell. Stiller and Ferrell will play a legendary disco music duo that is offered to play in a revival concert although they deeply hate each other. Stiller and Ferrell met before in CMP in the flopped comedy ‘Eureka!’ but it will be the very first time that they are seen together on screen. That time, Ferrell played the villain and Stiller did not act but directed the movie. Connors has also chosen a peculiar director for this comedy: David Schwimmer. The star from ‘Friends’ will make here his first directional job for CMP. Before, he has only been seen in CMP acting in ‘Turning Point’ and his voice was heard in ‘Happy Hamsters’.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: No surprises about most of the already known superheroes to be seen in Nolan’s movie. Christian Bale finally accepted to be Batman again. Nicholas Cage repeats as Superman after CMP’s ‘Captain America Vs Superman’. Joshua Jackson also repeats as The Flash. And, of course, one of the main attractions of the function will be Cobie Smulders dressing again Wonder Woman’s costume.

THE FORGOTTEN: Robert Pattinson will confirm there is life beyond the ‘Twilight’ saga playing the main rival of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Ben Whishaw, making his debut in CMP too, will join Pattinson in his will of causing serious troubles to Gordon-Levitt. And the main star of the original ‘The Heirs’ trilogy, Robert De Niro, has accepted to make a cameo in this sequel.

MS. JORDON: He used to have a regular career as movie director during the first CMP’s Seasons. And now he will finally be back behind the cameras with this new thriller written by Dawson Edwards. Yes, Best Director GMA Winner Tom Hanks finally directs again for the Studio after ‘September’s Gone’, ‘The Story Of Me’ and ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’. And he will also play a minor role in this remake of the 1950’s production ‘The File On Thelma Jordon’. The original Ms. Jordon, a classic femme fatale, was played by Barbara Stanwyck. Now, the character will be played by no other than Cameron Diaz, who has succeeded this Season with ‘Daughters Of The Dragon’.

UNCOMMON VALOUR: ONLY THE VALIANT: Judi Dench, who was seen recently in ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time’, will be seen again next Season playing the mother of the villain Hayden Christensen. The movie will also mean the debut in CMP for the classy star from the tv series ‘House’, Olivia Wilde.

THE LOVERS STAGES: Four couples show us what love is about in this nice romantic comedy written by Josh Collins and directed by Tamara Jenkins. The young couple will be played by the CMP’s debutante Paul Dano and Best Actress GMA Winner Jena Malone, previous Collins’ muse in movies like ‘Lyra’ and ‘After The Storm’. And the youngest couple will be played by other Collins’ regulars: Jimmy Bennett, who has worked with Collins in ‘Babes in Toyland’ and ‘A Man Called Dan’, and Sammi Hanrati, seen in ‘The Dead Walk’ and this Season’s critical success ‘Teenage Wasteland’.

ZOIDS: EVE: New faces in this franchise. Jacob Kogan makes his debut in CMP while Steve Buscemi returns to CMP after quite some Season’s away to play the mega-villain of the show. Buscemi had not been seen in a CMP’s movie since ‘The Sonja Blue Chronicles’.

L.A.WOLF 2: Back in Season 10, ‘L.A. Wolf’ was the unexpected winner of the Most Wanted Sequel GMA. That action cops movie made a correct box office of 54 millions making 65 millions of net gains. Now, Josh Collins has written a sequel. And the first thing we know about it is that there have been some problems choosing the talent to direct it (see ‘The Inner Circle’ below). Finally, the director of the sequel will be David Ayer, who worked with Collins before in the picture of a serial killer ‘Killer On The Road’.

LOST AT SEA: Two more names of young talents having a really bat time at the ocean in this suspense movie written by Matt Kubrick and directed by Brian Trenchard Smith. Katarina Hyde and Ethan Embry will make their debut in CMP trying to survive in the middle of the ocean in this movie based on true events.

OUT PARTYING: And also young talents join this cast to make their debut in CMP. Two newbies in the Studio, Reece Thompson and Anthony Traina, join the party written and directed by Trent Nielsen.



TRENT NIELSEN – FADED

Trent Nielsen has made an impressive debut as screenwriter in this CMP’s Season. He promises to be a different kind of writer: his main interests don’t seem to be big action flicks or superheroes movies but low budget productions focused on romantic comedies, soft drama or classic adventure. During his first Season, he has seen released four of his stories: ‘The Blacksmith’s Sword’, ‘The Princess And The Captain’, ‘Running On Empty’ and this week’s release ‘Faded’. He has also announced that he will be making his debut as movie director next Season with the teen comedy ‘Out Partying’. This is his first interview in CMP’s world.

1.Aren't you afraid of comparisons between 'Faded' and the last Best Picture GMA Winner, 'The Rock Star'? It seems like they have obvious differences but also a few things in common...

Frankly speaking, I am very afraid about it. People would probably think stuff to theirselves like, 'That Nielsen is a fag thinking he can get away in copying a very critically-acclaimed movie and turning it into crap' or stuff like 'I lost respect for Nielsen'. Sure, they won't tell that to me directly but when someone says something good about it, I can't help but thinking that that someone is lying even if he/she isn't.

2.Casting Mr.T is such a daring step... How was it working with such a peculiar cast, including him and the Sklar Brothers?

The casting process was a PITA. Originally, there was no Mr. T in the screenplay. There was, however, a loan shark named Andre which I later cut off when I had rewritten the screenplay. There was also no The Sklar Brothers on the original screenplay.

Personally, it was fun working with the cast. Paul, Zooey, Randy, Jason and Mr. T were fun to work with. The movie was shot just like I had imagined it on my brain. Mr. Cameron Crowe also did a very wonderful job in directing, making sure that everyone wasn't acting too unrealistic. I'm a big Crowe fan and I was very, very elated when I found out that he agreed to work on this project.

3.You have had an impressive debut this Season, releasing the big number of 4 movies... How do you feel about how things have been going on for you so far in CMP?

I feel like I've done nothing significant for CMP at the moment. I am one insignificant piece of a big jigsaw puzzle. Sure, I am responsible for the 13.33333333333333333% of the movies released this season but that doesn't mean anything. I am only responsible for the 1.17% of all the releases in CMP. This season, I sure did wrote a lot of films but there isn't any guarantee if I can keep this number up in the future seasons.

4.You look as a different kind of screenwriter in CMP. Romantic comedies and soft dramedies - genres I am a big fan of, by the way - are not the usual thing in the Studio. Are you afraid of being considered a kind of minor author compared with the big blockbusters' screenwriters?

I don't care that I'm considered as a minor author since I like what I am doing. I pretty much follow one rule; write movies that you would actually take time to see. So if other writers would like to spend a hundred and twenty minutes watching a big blockbuster film, then they should write movies that are designed to be big blockbusters because they like it and writers are supposed to write because they like to. All that I am asking for the audience is to understand my writings.

5.Okay, as this is your first interview, I will make you a classic question for newbies: which are your favorite CMP's movies and authors (besides you and your own films, of course)?

My favorite CMP writers are Chad Taylor and Josh Collins. I just love most of their films. Usually, I save the films that they write in a file and read it over and over again, trying to learn their own different style. My main purpose in doing this is not to copy them but instead, I try NOT to copy them since I know that if I had tried to write in their style, my execution would not be any better since the two of them are far better writers than I am.

Hmm... My favorite CMP films? In Spirit, The Beatles, Teenage Wasteland, Zann, The Rock Star, Riders on The Storm and Fireflies.


GOLDEN MOON AWARDS
MULTI-AWARDED TALENTS

Harry Stark has announced that the next GMA’s Gala will be different from the rest. Usually, the awards are presented by stars seen in that same Season’s releases. But, this time, all the stars showing up at the Gala will have a common requirement: they will all be previous GMA winners. So, if we are honoring this Season to all the awarded talents, it seems fair to remark here those ones that have won not one but two or more Golden Moon Awards.

Among the nearly 800 talents that have ever worked in a CMP’s movie, this is the selected group of talents that have become multi-winners…

PAUL GIAMATTI
Winner: Starring Couple (Season 1, ‘Bill And The Rocket Man’), Starring Couple (Season 11, ‘The Miracle Men’)
And other nominations: Actor (Season 1, ‘Bill And The Rocket Man’), Supporting Actor (season 2, ‘Fools Game’), Starring Couple (Season 6, ‘Man In The Mirror’)

ANTHONY HOPKINS
Winner: Villain (Season 1, ‘Captain America’), Villain (Season 5, ‘The Guardians’)
And other nominations: Villain (Season 9, ‘Sherlock Holmes’)

ROBIN WILLIAMS
Winner: Actor (Season 1, ‘Deadly Sins’), Supporting Actor (Season 9, ‘Ugly’)
And other nominations: Actor (Season 5, ‘The Story Of Me’)

CATHERINE Z. JONES
Winner: Actress & Starring Couple (Season 2, ‘Fools Game’)
And other nominations: None

JOHNNY DEPP
Winner: Villain (Season 2, ‘Uncommon Valour: The Frigate Captain’), Starring Couple (Season 5, ‘Cell Mates’), Starring Couple (Season 9, ‘Sherlock Holmes’)
And other nominations: Actor (Season 6, ‘Drawing Dreams’), Actor (Season 9, ‘Sherlock Holmes’)

JACK NICHOLSON
Winner: Supporting Actor (Season 2, ‘September’s Gone’), Starring Couple (Season 5, ‘Cell Mates’)
And other nominations: Villain (Season 5, ‘Cell Mates’)

RIDLEY SCOTT
Winner: Director & Producer of Best Picture (Season 2, ‘Uncommon Valour: The Frigate Captain’)
And other nominations: Director (Season 10, ‘The Gunpowder Plot’), Director (Season 11, ‘Gaspipe’)

DANIEL CRAIG
Winner: Villain (Season 3, ‘Star Wars: New Order’), Supporting Actor (Season 8, ‘1066’)
And other nominations: Actor (Season 5, ‘Powerhouse’)

CLAIRE DANES
Winner: Actress & Starring Couple (Season 4, ‘Carousel’)
And other nominations: Supporting Actress (Season 3, ‘The Great War Series: ‘Darkening Skies’), Supporting Actress (Season 4, ‘The Great War Series: Storm Breaks’)

CLINT EASTWOOD
Winner: Director & Producer of Best Picture (Season 5, ‘Nagasaki Daydreams’)
And other nominations: None

JAMES CAMERON
Winner: Director & Producer of Best Picture (Season 6, ‘Pompeii’)
And other nominations: None

KATE HUDSON
Winner: Starring Couple (Season 7, ‘Velcro’), Actress (Season 9, ‘Mary’s Dark Side’)
And other nominations: Actress (Season 7, ‘Velcro’), Starring Couple (Season 9, ‘Mary’s Dark Side’)

JODIE FOSTER
Winner: Supporting Actress (Season 7, ‘Lyra’), Supporting Actress (Season 9, ‘Things I Forgot To Tell You’)
And other nominations: None

BILL MURRAY
Winner: Villain & Supporting Actor (Season 7, ‘Life And Facts Of A Dirty Mind’)
And other nominations: Director (Season 7, ‘Life And Facts Of A Dirty Mind’)

SAMUEL L. JACKSON
Winner: Villain & Starring Couple (Season 10, ‘Foul Karma’)
And other nominations: None

…AND THE CMP’S MULTI-AWARDED SCREENWRITERS ARE…

JAMES BRADLEY
Winners: ‘Fools Game’ (Season 2), ‘The Toymaker’ (Season 3), ‘The Funeral Drum’ (Season 8), ‘The Miracle Men’ (Season 11)
And other nominations: ‘Chevrolet’ (Season 2), ‘Pompeii’ (Season 6), ‘The Chinese Bride’ (Season 8), ‘Things I Forgot To Tell You’ (Season 9)

TED FROATS
Winners: ‘Carousel’ (Season 4), ‘Three Wooden Crosses’ (Season 5)
And other nominations: ‘Flashes Of Life’ (Season 5), ‘Only In America’ (Season 7)


To create the right atmosphere during the L.A.’s premiere of ‘The Hellbowl’, CMP fulfilled the theatre with people wearing the freakiest vampires and zombies’ costumes. Here we see one of the stars of the movie, Tim Allen, posing with two of them.



Now it’s official. Remember that I wrote months ago about the plans Brad Pitt and George Clooney had to create their own independent production company in CMP’s world? Well, they have. CMP welcomes ‘Scoundrels Productions’, the brand new Pitt and Clooney’s company. Like ‘Midnight Movies’ and ‘Grand Island Movies’, ‘Scoundrels Productions’ – named like that as a tribute to ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’, the remake that Pitt and Clooney successfully starred in CMP – will develop its own projects for CMP. This is the first independent production company not ruled by CMP’s screenwriters. The plan is to release all kind of genres movies putting the accent on not using too high budgets and looking for creative concepts. The company’s movies won’t need to be necessarily starred by Clooney or Pitt. So, CMP’s authors, anyone interested in joining this new experience, when sending a pitch to Harry Stark you only have to mention that you want it to be produced by ‘Scoundrels Productions’.

Some weeks ago, I wrote that ‘Variety’ magazine considered Ben Stiller the most powerful star in CMP. Well, the same magazine has published in its last issue who do they consider as the most influential and powerful movie directors in CMP’s world at the moment. You know, the guys who get green light for almost any project as soon as their name is linked to it. And, always according to ‘Variety’, this selected group includes some predictable names like Martin Scorsese, James Cameron or Ridley Scott. But there are also unexpected names in the list: movie directors that are becoming more and more influential in Harry Stark’s decisions due to the success of their latest CMP’s movies. Among then, specially shine the names of JJ. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron, as they seem to be turning gold everything they touch lately in CMP.

And let’s keep talking about directors… Sam Raimi has officially confirmed that he won’t be directing the new (and fourth) movie of the Dark Tower saga. ‘After three movies, I think that a new director can bring new and fresh ideas to this visually complex saga. Changing the director will benefit the franchise’, has Raimi stated. Anyway, Raimi will remain linked to the saga as he will be the producer of the upcoming fourth installment. And he has personally chosen the man that he wants to replace him behind the cameras: it will be the veteran and experienced French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Jeunet has mainly developed his career in the French industry but he also has previous experience in Hollywood, like directing back in 1997 ‘Alien: Resurrection’.

And let’s talk a bit more about directors… Here is a juicy story. ‘L.A.Wolf 2’ has been green lighted this week. And David Ayer - who had previously worked with Josh Collins in the financially failed but critically acclaimed ‘Killer On The Road’ – will take care of the movie. But choosing the director has been pretty controversial. David Fincher directed the original ‘L.A. Wolf’. Then, Collins decided that this sequel should be directed by JJ. Abrams, who has recently worked with Collins in the successful ‘Earth 3K’. To Collins’ surprise, Abrams said he was not interested in directing the sequel of somebody else’s movie (after all, isn’t he one of the most powerful directors in CMP?). So what did Collins do? He called Fincher offering him to direct the sequel. But what did Fincher answered then? Something like: ‘Now you call me? After you threw me away from the franchise, you want me back as your second choice? No way!’ So Collins saw how the green light for the movie was coming up and no director was chosen yet. He urgently called another of his friends, David Ayer. And he finally rescued Collins from disaster accepting to be in charge of directing the movie.

And I end up this week with a rumor. I have been told that Marvel’s executives are not happy with the ending of the profitable Avengers’ franchise in CMP. They have begged – and pressed probably too - Harry Stark to do something about it, as they don’t want Justice League and DC Comics taking their place in CMP. The problem is that Matt Kubrick doesn’t seem to be interested in going on with The Avengers. So the rumor is that Harry Stark asked Steve Connors if he would be interested in putting up a new Marvel’s franchise in CMP. Stark’s idea was setting up a new group of superheroes different from The Avengers, this time leaded by Wolverine. For what I know, Connors has not accepted the offer yet, as he wants to focus on his own projects by the moment.


The 12th Edition of the Golden Moon Awards will take place in Madrid, Spain, on February, the 19th. Today is the starting day to vote for the nominees in all the 14 categories. The time to vote for the nominees will end up next Wednesday, 10th and the nominations will be announced next Friday, 12th.

As usual, let’s remember the categories, the voting rules and the complete list of the movies included in this edition.

VOTING RULES

You can start voting for the nominees today.

Vote before next Wednesday, February 10th.

Everybody is invited to vote. No matter if you have not released any movie this Season.

1-VOTING FOR THE NOMINEES:

-For nominations, you can vote TWO candidates per category. The first one you vote will get 2 points and the second will get 1 point. If you vote for only one candidate, it will get 2 points.

-Screenwriters cannot vote for their own movies in Nominations phase.

2-VOTING FOR THE WINNERS

-When voting for the Winners, you can only vote ONE candidate per category.

-Everybody is invited to vote for the winners, even if you did not vote for the nominations:

A) If you voted for the nominations, now you are allowed to vote for your own movies.
B) If you did not vote for the nominations, you are also allowed to vote for the winners. But, in this case, you cannot vote for your own movies (in those categories where a movie from you is nominated, you can choose between abstention or voting for the other nominees).

-Vote via email or private message at the CMP’s Forum. Nominees will be announced next Friday. To make your work easier, you can see below a list of this Season’s releases.

THE AWARDS CATEGORIES

-Best Production Design: very simple, vote for your favourite movie poster of the Season.
-Most Wanted Sequel: what movie from this Season would you like to watch a sequel of? The winner of this category gets automatic green light from CMP to develop a sequel if its author wants to.
-Best Adaptation: Vote for the concept and premises of a movie production that better adapts or translate to the big screen a previously existing material (comics, books, remakes, whatever...). You can evaluate all the elements of the adaptation (storyline, production design, cast, whatever…) to vote. You don’t need to know the original source to vote in this category!
-Best Original Concept: Vote for the best or most original idea for a movie. It is just the concept or the idea you are voting for here. The quality of the screenplay developing it has its own category!
-Best Starring Couple: not necessarily a romantic couple or a man/woman couple. It can be, but it can also be any kind of starring couple with special appeal or charisma or chemistry or screen presence or whatever.
-Best Cast: the best cast as a whole, the most fitted to the characters, the plot, the genre… whatever reason the group as a whole impressed you.
-Best Screenplay: doesn’t matter if its original or an adaptation, you just liked the way the story was written and developed so much to vote it.
-Best Villain
-Best Supporting Actress
-Best Supporting Actor
-Best Actress
-Best Actor
-Best Director
-Best Picture

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR THE NOMINATIONS BEFORE NEXT WEDNESDAY!

SEASON 12’s MOVIES

(O=Original / A=Adaptation)

UNDER THE GUN

Action – O
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Monica Bellucci, James Gandolfini, Robert De Niro, Chow Yun-Fat, Ray Stevenson
Director and Producer: Quentin Tarantino
Screenwriter: David Makalaster
Box Office: 55 mill.
Net Gains: 29 mill.

THE BLACKSMITH’S SWORD

Action / Adventure – O
Cast: Thomas Sangster, Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Clive Owen, Eric Bana, Emma Watson, Gaspard Ulliel, Rosamund Pike.
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenwriter: Trent Nielsen
Box Office: 101 mill.
Net Gains: 54 mill.

THE MISTAKEN

Drama / Crime – O
Cast: Brad Pitt, Diane Lane, Timothy Olyphant, Val Kilmer
Director and Producer: Brad Pitt
Screenwriter: Josh Collins
Box Office: 24 mill.
Net Losses: 12 mill.

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON

Action / Superhero – A
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry, Ken Watanabe, Jet Li, Gong Li, Gerald Okamura
Director: McG
Screenwriter: Joey Stark
Box Office: 187 mill.
Net Gains: 123 mill.

RIDERS ON THE STORM

Drama / Social Drama – O
Cast: Will Patton, Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Kristen Stewart, Guy Pearce, Vince Gallo, John Turturro. Cameo by Julia Roberts.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Screenwriter: Chad Taylor
Box Office: 21 mill.
Net Losses: 17 mill.

24 HOURS TO LIVE

Drama / Action – O
Cast: Don Cheadle, Derek Luke, Anthony McKie, Danny Glover, Kerry Washington
Director: Spike Lee
Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards
Box Office: 8 mill.
Net Losses: 22 mill.

EDGE OF HUMAN

Sci-Fi / Action – A
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Evan Rachel Wood, Ralph Fiennes, William H. Macy, Tyrese Gibson, Claire Forlani
Director: Jonathan Kasdan
Producer: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Steve Connors
Box Office: 55 mill.
Net Gains: 27 mill.

BEING BEN STILLER

Comedy – O
Cast: Ben Stiller, Jake T. Austin, Christine Taylor, Amy Adams, Vince Vaughn, Dane Cook, Hank Azaria, McKenzie Vega. Cameos by Steve Martin, Jennifer Aniston.
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
Box Office: 109 mill.
Net Gains: 87 mill.

THE PRINCESS AND THE CAPTAIN

Romance – A
Cast: Keira Knightley, Damian Lewis, Rachel Weisz, Ewan Mcgregor
Director: Stephen Frears
Screenwriter: Trent Nielsen
Box Office: 38 mill.
Net Losses: 2 mill.

AMERICAN TABLOID

Crime / Drama – A
Cast: Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, David Strathairn, John Travolta
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: James Bradley
Box Office: 62 mill.
Net Gains: 53 mill.

TEENAGE WASTELAND

Drama / Teen – O
Cast: Logan Lerman, Anne Popplewell, Sammi Hanratty, Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cameron Bright
Director and Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
Producer: Grand Island Movies
Box Office: 39 mill.
Net Gains: 12 mill.

IN SPIRIT

Mystery / Drama – O
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Jodelle Ferland, Robin Wright-Penn, Kyra Sedgwick
Director: John August
Screenwriter: Josh Collins
Box Office: 50 mill.
Net Gains: 8 mill.

THE BEATLES

Biography / Musical – A
Cast: Jaime Bell, Daniel Radcliff, Jim Sturgess, Emile Hirsh, Liam Neeson, Colin Hanks, Yoon-Jin Kim, Rachel McAdams, Shawn Ashmore, Diane Kruger.
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenwriter: Chad Taylor
Box Office: 38 mill.
Net Gains: 9 mill.

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Romantic Comedy – O
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Isla Fisher, Jason Biggs, Patrick Fugit
Director: Anne Fletcher
Screenwriter: Trent Nielsen
Box Office: 53 mill.
Net Gains: 21 mill.

STORM AT HOME

Drama – O
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Derek Luke, Jeffrey Wright, Rosario Dawson, Idris Elba, Cicely Tyson, Ashanti, Seth Green, Rick Gonzalez.
Director: Michael Mann
Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards
Box Office: 36 mill.
Net Gains: 9 mill.

UNCHARTED: DRAKE’S FORTUNE

Adventure / Treasure – A
Cast: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mark Dacascos, Michael Rooker
Director: Stephen Sommers
Screenwriter: Steve Connors
Box Office: 69 mill.
Net Gains: 54 mill.

BOOSTER GOLD

Action / Superhero / Comedy – A
Cast: Chad Michael Murray, David Strathairn, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Nikki Reed, Frank Langella. Voice of Michael Sheen. Cameo by Kim Bassinger.
Director: JJ Abrams
Screenwriter: Chad Taylor
Box Office: 69 mill.
Net Gains: 75 mill.

THE PITIFUL PLIGHT OF TOM COLLINS

Drama / Comedy – O
Cast: Alan Arkin, Judy Davis, Catherine Keener, Helena Bonham-Carter, Kathy Bates
Director and Screenwriter: Josh Collins
Producer: Grand Island Movies
Box Office: 12 mill.
Net Losses: 10 mill.

NATHAN ZACHARY AND THE PILFERED PROTOTYPE

Action Adventure – A
Cast: Thomas Jane, Diane Kruger, Kevin Costner, Aaron Eckhart, Brent Spiner, Ashley Scott, Michael Clarke Duncan, Justin Long, Taryn Manning. Cameo by Charlize Theron.
Director and Screenwriter: Jack Hammer
Box Office: 41 mill.
Net Losses: 12 mill.

JOHN AND TOMMIE

Drama / Biographical – A
Cast: Anthony McKie, Derek Luke, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Voight, Will Smith
Director: Will Smith
Producer and Screenwriter: Chad Taylor
Box Office: 33 mill.
Net Gains: 13 mill.

COMEDY WARS

Comedy – O
Cast: Will Ferrell, Sasha Baron Cohen, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Teri Polo, Rutina Wesley, Simon Pegg, Seth Rogen
Director: Edgar Wright
Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
Box Office: 30 mill.
Net Losses: 7 mill.

THE AVENGERS 4: CIVIL WAR

Action / Superhero – A
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, Claire Danes, Adam Baldwin, Kurt Russell, Rose McGowan, Tyler Mane, Christopher Plummer, John Cho, Sam Worthington
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
Box Office: 141 mill.
Net Gains: 95 mill.

A HARD PLACE

Police Procedural / Drama – O
Cast: John Cusack, Renée Zellwegger, Harrison Ford, Robert Carlyle, James Cromwell
Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Richard Franzwa
Box Office: 81 mill.
Net Gains: 61 mill.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

Mystery / Drama – A
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Emily Watson, Emily Blunt, Judi Dench
Director: Danny Boyle
Screenwriter: Josh Collins
Producer: Grand Island Movies
Box Office: 22 mill.
Net Losses: 7 mill.

WEST FLASHMAN

Adventure / Comedy – A
Cast: Rupert Everett, Catherine Z. Jones, Nick Nolte, Michelle Rodriguez, Djimon Hounsou, Graham Greene. Cameo by Jude Law.
Director: Frank Darabont
Screenwriter: James Bradley
Box Office: 76 mill.
Net Gains: 75 mill.

KARATE KAT

Animation / Comedy / Family – O
Cast of Voices: Ryan Reynolds, Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Nathan Gamble, Radha Mitchell
Director: Andrew Stanton
Screenwriter: Josh Collins
Box Office: 87 mill.
Net Gains: 37 mill.

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

Love Story – O
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Emile Hirsh, Andy Garcia, Kristen Stewart, Frank Langella
Director: Jodie Foster
Screenwriter: Joey Stark
Box Office: 25 mill.
Net Gains: 0.8 mill.

SILENT HILL: THE RETURN

Horror – A
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Ray Winstone, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Jay Hernandez
Director: Brad Anderson
Screenwriter: Max Arilius
Awaiting release

THE HELLBOWL

Horror / Comedy – O
Cast: Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, Michael Cera, John Cho, Christina Ricci, Toni Collette, Luis Guzman, Alec Baldwin
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriters: Matt Kubrick & Josh Collins
Producer: Midnight Movies
Awaiting release

FADED

Comedy / Romance – O
Cast: Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, The Sklar Brothers, Mr.T
Director: Cameron Crowe
Screenwriter: Trent Nielsen
Awaiting release