APRIL, 30
SILVER SABLE AND THE GENESIS COALITION
Action / Superhero
The Cast: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Clive Owen, Sam Elliott, Dominic Monaghan, Eric Balfour, Bo Hoskins. Cameo by Tobey Maguire.
The Director and Producer: Bryan Singer
The Screenwriter: Joey Stark
The Plot:
An spectacular chase of motorboats is taking place in an unknown swamp. A man named Ivan Trefkov is driving the one trying to escape. Quentino (D.Monaghan) is driving the one chasing him. As the two motorboats get closer, we get to see Silver Sable (K.Heigl) jumping from Quentino’s to Trefkov’s. Silver and Trefkov have a violent fight as the motorboard runs without control. As they fight, the motorboard approaches to a huge waterfall. Trefkov falls on the motorboard’s floor and Silver puts a gun in his forehead.
‘Where’s my father?’, he shouts at Trefkov, ‘Tell me or I’ll kill you right here right now.’
‘Let’s go together, baby’, answers Trefkov, activating an explosive he is holding in his hand.
Silver is about to shoot her gun when the motorboard falls down the waterfall. She jumps from the motorboard. As she is freefalling down the abyss a small helicopter appears. The pilot is Chen (E.Balfour). He throws a cable to Silver and she picks it up in the air as she is falling. Hanging from the cable, Silver sees how the motorboard with Trefkov in it falls down and violently explodes in the air.
CREDITS
Silver is at Castle Sable, her home in Symkaria, training. Uncle Morty (B.Hoskins) tells her he needs to talk with her. He tells Silver that he is worried about her: she is getting too obsessed lately with the search for his father and taking too many risks. Silver is not accepting any new jobs lately, too busy following any hint that can help her to find her father. Even Quentino and Chen are getting tired of following her in too risky operations that take them nowhere, like the recent chase of Trefkov, a supposed member of the Genesis Coalition. Uncle Morty tells Silver that she should forget a bit about her father and go back to ordinary business.
But Silver does not want to hear her uncle’s advises. She is absolutely convinced that her father is alive and that the criminal organization known as the Genesis Coalition has something to do with his disappearance.
Later, Quentino and Chen also talk with Silver. They tell her that they are not happy working for her anymore. The Wild Pack was supposed to be created to chase criminals and terrorists. But they are only following failed hints about the Genesis Coalition lately that always become useless and too dangerous. Silver, mad at them, tells them that they can leave the Wild Pack if they want, so Quentino and Chen abandon Castle Sable and consequently the Wild Pack can be considered dissolved.
A few days later, Silver gets a mysterious invitation for dinner from Dr. Doom (C.Owen). She knows Dr. Doom is a criminal who lives in Latveria, a neighbor Republic of Symkaria. Against uncle Morty’s advise, Silver accepts to visit Dr. Doom.
Dr. Doom receives Silver at his mansion in Latveria. During the dinner, he tells Silver he has a deal to offer her. He has got to know she is anxiously looking for the secret base of the Genesis Coalition. He will tell her where it is if she does something for him. She has to go to the US and steal the Harmodium , a mysterious outer space rock recently found by the NASA that is said to have an infinite energy power. He is very much interested in having it for some secret experiments he is making. The Harmodium is kept under extreme security measures in an army base in Florida.
Silver accepts the deal.
So she flies to Florida and, all dressed in black and with a balaclava covering her face, she gets into this Army base at night, saving all the guards and the sophisticated laser-ray security systems, until she reaches the room where the green rock, the Harmodium, is kept. As she is about to take it, somebody interrupts her. It’s no other than her old special friend Spiderman (T.Maguire).
He was there to protect the Harmodium until it is taken to a safer place. Spiderman and Silver have a violent fight. Finally, Spiderman jumps on her and seats on her stomach immobilizing her. He takes off her balaclava and he is absolutely shocked when he realizes the thief is no other than Silver.
‘You?’, he says, ‘What’s going on here?’
‘I’m sorry’. It’s all Silver says before reacting.
Spiderman is so shocked that Silver’s attack takes him by surprise. Silver gets rid of him, knocks him out and escapes with the Harmodium.
Back to Latveria, Silver gives the rock to Dr. Doom. So Dr. Doom tells her where the Genesis Coalition’s hideout is: somewhere in the frozen mountains of Kamchatka.
Silver gets a call from her uncle. He asks her what’s going on. Spiderman has contacted him and told him. ‘Are you crazy, Silver?’, uncle Morty yells at her, ‘In your obsession, you have become a criminal!’ Silver cuts the communication. She doesn’t want to hear anyone.
Silver flies to the frozen territory of Kamchatka and travels alone in a sleigh pulled by eight dogs through ice, snow and blizzard until she arrives to the mountain where the Genesis Coalition’s hideout is supposed to be. As she is approaching to it, a mine explodes under her sleigh and she loses conscious.
When she wakes up, she is chained at a dungeon. And her old mate and boyfriend Foreigner (G.Butler) is in front of her. Foreigner explains her that, when he realized Silver was leaving him and falling in love with Spiderman, his whole world and beliefs wrecked down. Then, he decided to join the Genesis Coalition.
‘The Genesis Coalition is not a criminal organization’, explains Foreigner, ‘It just works by itself to solve the problems of the world. We don’t collaborate with any Government. We just do what we think is right. And if we have to act against the law, we do. And if we have to commit a crime to reach our final purposes, we do. And if we have to get involved in drug trafficking or robberies to finance our operations, we do. We don’t take criminals to jail. We exterminate them. We have gone beyond what The Avengers, the Justice League or any other group has ever gone. Law, Governments, morality, honesty… are only limitations in the war against crime. Many people think that we are like HYDRA or any other criminal organization. But we are not. We are the ultimate answer to crime and terrorism.’
‘If you commit crimes to fight crimes, you also become criminals’, answers Silver.
‘Who says so? The Genesis Coalition does not respond to any law or tribunal. We only respond to our own interests and objectives without useless limitations.’
Foreigner offers Silver to join the Genesis Coalition. She refuses. She asks Foreigner if he knows where her father is. Foreigner just smiles and leaves the dungeon.
Silver is left alone and chained at the dungeon for days. Without any food or drink, she soon begins to fall into faints and hallucinations. One day, she opens up her eyes and sees her father in front of her.
‘Hello, my dear’, he whispers, ‘I am so sorry you have to go through this’.
‘Father?’, she whispers. But her father’s image disappears.
Next time Foreigner appears at the dungeon, she is extremely weak. He asks her if she has considered time enough the offer to join them. Silver says she has. She wants to join the Coalition. Foreigner smiles: ‘Now you are ready to come with me’.
So Silver is taken to the presence of the Genesis Coalition’s leader. And when she sees him she just can’t believe it.
It’s Ernst Sablinova. It’s her father (S.Elliott).
Ernst explains Silver that he got tired after all the years fighting against ex nazis and criminals under the rules of different Governments. He felt frustrated too many times as some criminals, with their expensive lawyers, got soft convictions or how some Governments were too weak in their policies against crime. When Latveria’s Government decided to cut the funds given to his organization, he finally decided to disappear and create his lifetime project: the Genesis Coalition. An organization designed to battle all kind of criminals clandestinely.
‘I didn’t want to tell you about it until you had grown up enough. It was me who asked Dr. Doom to offer you the robbery of the Harmodium. It was a test. I wanted to know if you could break the law when the reason is good enough. And you did. You and I are the same, my dear’, he tells Silver, ‘You are ready to join me.’
‘Dr. Doom and you are friends?’, she asks.
Ernst explains her that making things by himself wasn’t so easy. So, to fight some criminals, he had to make deals with some others. The Genesis Coalition has collaborated with guys like Dr. Doom or Baron Von Strucker in some illegal operations just in order to get from them financing or useful information.
‘I cannot accept this’, says Sable, holding up her tears as she realizes what has become of her beloved father. ‘No, father, I am not like you’. Then, she suddenly knocks out Foreigner with a karate kick and runs away from the room. Alarms sound all over the hideout. Guards chase Silver, who tries to find some way out.
Silver arrives to a kind of garage where she takes a sophisticated snow-bike. She rides it and jumps with it through a big glass window as the guards are surrounding her. It’s a long fall but she manages to stay on the bike. Soon, other bikes are chasing her downhill. It’s a highly dangerous descent and some bikes crash on the way.
Finally, Silver herself crashes and a bike reaches her. It’s Foreigner. They face each other in a narrow way beside a deep ravine.
‘I loved you. Now I will have to kill you’, tells her Foreigner before they start a violent karate fight.
As they are fighting, Silver sees a fighter airplane coming out from behind the mountains. It is flying to the hideout. As it passes flying low close to her, she sees Quentino at the pilot seat. She waves to stop him but he does not understand her signs.
Batteries from the hideout shoot the airplane. The airplane answers shooting two missiles to the hideout. It all explodes in a huge ball of fire and snow. Silver understands that her father has probably died.
Distracted by the explosion, she is kicked by Foreigner. She falls down the ravine. Foreigner jumps onto his snow-bike and runs away.
The airplane lands close to the ravine. Quentino and Chen come out and they find Silver holding desperately to a rock to avoid falling down. They rescue her.
Once in the airplane, they explain Silver that Uncle Morty called them when she disappeared without a trace. They went to Dr. Doom’s mansion and demanded him to tell them where she could be. Dr. Doom agreed to tell them as he said he felt sympathy for Silver. So they flied there to rescue her.
‘Did you find your father?’, asks her Quentino.
Silver looks at the top of the mountain where the Genesis Coalition’s hideout was. Now it’s all ruins and columns of smoke. No chance for survivors.
‘No’, she answers in a sad way.
As the three of them get in the plane, Silver tells them they have work to do. ‘Have you heard about the recent robbery of the Harmodium? Recovering it will be our next mission.’, she tells, ‘But before that I think I have to apologize to a few people...’
The airplane takes off and leaves the mountains.
Stark’s Comment:
Here is the awaited sequel of the biggest success in CMP’s History. ‘Silver Sable’ made 130 millions in box office, with net gains of 113 millions. But its sequel ‘Silver Sable and The Wild Pack’ pulverized all existing records with a box office of 352 million and net gains of 420 millions. I confess I am very nervous with this release. If the movie does not become a huge blockbuster after the numbers of its predecessor, it would be more than embarrassing.
Behind The Scenes:
-Bryan Singer had to refuse against his will directing and producing ‘Dragonlance’ due to his commitment with this production.
-AnnaSophia Robb, who played Silver’s niece, is the only cast member of the two previous installments of the saga that does not appear in this one. Joey Stark has admitted that ‘we could not find a place for her in the plot’.
-The new life of Silver’s father as leader of the Genesis Coalition is an original idea not based on the Silver Sable’s comics.
-Clive Owen / Dr. Doom is the only novelty in the cast of the saga.
-At this moment, Synger and Stark have not decided yet if there will be a fourth movie of the saga or not.
THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND: THE THREE TRIALS
Adventure / Comedy
The Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Michelle Rodriguez, Judy Reyes, Michael Chiklis, Seth Green. Voice of Tim Curry.
The Director: Mike Newell
The Screenwriter: David Makalaster
The Plot:
Guybrush Threepwood (Eisenberg) is a meek 25-year old who just moved out of his mother's basement (Mostly because his mother just died of dysentery) on Melee Island to explore the world. All the time spent listening to the old sailors in the local pub and reading old log books he'd "found" at the docks have given him one clear goal in life: To become the most fearsome pirate ever!
This in spite of the fact that his most useful skill is being able to hold his breath for ten minutes straight. Luckily, he finds that three actual pirates (Seth Green among them, looking very much like Jack Sparrow) have sat down quite permanently in the local pub due to the ghost pirate LeChuck (Voice Of Tim Curry) putting them out of business. After some groveling they agree to make him a pirate, IF he can pass the trials of Courage, Swordfighting and Treasure finding; the three most important skills for a pirate.
First, he takes on treasurefinding and the pirates hand him a shovel to set him on the way. On the way out of town he bumps into Sheriff Fester Shinetop (Chiklis) who takes an immediate dislike to him and gives him a long list of things illegal on Melee including piracy, treasure hunting (It should all go to the governor), swordfighting and holding ones breath for longer than 7 minutes. When Fester gets suspicous about the shovel Guybrush convinces him he's on his way to play a game of real life whack-a-mole. Before reaching to far into the forest Guybrush realizes he doesn't know where to even start looking and slumps down on a stump and stares off into the forest. THAT's when he spots the big X on the ground and the nearby signpost reading "Here lies the legendary Lost Treasure of Melee Island™, please leave some treasure for other tourists." He excitedly begins to dig to find.... A T-shirt! With the print "I'm with pirate. ->" even. Dejected, he turns back towards town.
Back at the pub the pirates are getting rowdy from the grog and accepts the t-shirt with a hearty laugh at the print. Next they give him a sword for the sword fighting trial but warns him that it's no ordinary sword fighting; it's the grand tradition of Melee Island "Insult sword fighting". They send him to defeat the island's swordmaster Carla(Reyes). Turning around to leave, he collides with the governor's daughter, Elaine Marley (Rodriguez) and immediately has flash-forwards to them dating, kissing, marrying and settling down. Head-over heels in love, in other words. Elaine, thinking Guybrush is a real pirate confides in him that she would like to sign on under his command, being sick of being spoiled by her father, the governor. Guybrush dodges the issues by saying that he is only in port to invest in a new ship and that he can't leave before he's closed the deal. Elaine is doubtful that he would knowingly invest in any ship from "Stan's Moderately Used Vessels", the only shipwright on the island, but agrees to wait for him and join him on the high seas. As if walking on clouds, Guybrush heads for Carla's cabin only to be grabbed again by Fester Shinetop.
Fester threatens him, saying that "flirting is illegal". When Guybrush says theres no law for love Fester claims to make the law, revealing that he's been courting Elaine for quite some while, even having tattooed her misspelled name on his arm. He finally releases Guybrush who hurries away even more determined to woo Elaine.
When he reaches Carla's cabin, the swordmaster herself is lazing off in a rocking chair on the porch. She only acknowledge him with a selfassured laugh when he announces he has come for a duel. She scolds him for not knowing anything about insult swordfighting, saying it is more about keeping your opponent off mental balance with insults than keeping him off physical balance with your sword. She demonstrates by catching him by surprise and downing him in only two insults. Guybrush's only response is a stuttered "I am rubber, you are glue". But he gets back up fueled by his love for Elaine and with a trick up his sleeve. ("After all, I was the weedy kid in school, I've heard every insult you could throw at me!"). The next duel goes on throughout the cabin, tearing the place down, with some classical insults returning along with many new.
Carla: "Only once have I met such a coward!"
Guybrush: "He must have taught you everything you know."
C: "Killing you would be justifiable homicide!"
G: "Then killing you must be justifiable fungicide."
Carla finally concedes defeat after Guybrush manages to knock her sword aside. As a reward for beating her, Carla gives him... A T-shirt! This time with the print "I duelled the swordmaster and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!"
Guybrush now makes it back to the Scumm Bar only to find everyone hiding from something behind their chairs and the curtains. Confused, he bumps into the only one not hiding; a rather huge fellow(Actually demon pirate LeChuck[Curry]). Still infused with fighting spirit from the insult swordfight, he throws out a "Could somebody point King Kong here to the nearest skyscraper?"
LeChuck doesn't take too kindly to this and decides to hang Guybrush by his collar from thechandelier saying that Guybrush is lucky that he's on his way to his beloved Elaine. Just thenhe catches someone trying to sneak out of the bar, that someone turning out to be Elaine Marley herself.
He proudly proclaims "We've got a honeymoon boat to catch, love! We're going waaay south!" and grabs a struggling Elaine who cries for Guybrush.
The Sparrow-like pirate, previously hiding under the table, comes forth and says that Guybrush has to go after Lechuck! Guybrush refuses, saying that it's a job for a real pirate. Sparrow insists that he is a pirate, even when Guybrush asks about the third trial (to which he responds "Are you kidding? you called a demon pirate captain a b-movie ape! That's either courage or stupidity and right now, I'm thinking it's the former!"). Finally, he gives Guybrush his pirate hat and a coupon for 50% off at Stan's Moderately Used Vessels.
As a final shot, Guybrush bangs open the bar door and strikes a pose, saying "Hold on, my love! I'm coming for you! I mean... Yarr!". The Sparrow-like pirate approves.
Stark’s Comment:
Young generations may not remember that ‘Monkey Island’ was a bestselling computer game produced by LucasArts back in 1990 (although a Special Edition was released in 2009). Twenty years letter, this pioneer game hits the big screen with this adaptation. At CMP, we have been lucky with movies involving pirates (the Corsairs’ movies, ‘Dr. Jones and the Cursed Treasure’, ‘Flashman’s Travels’…) and I expect this one to follow that patern.
Behind The Scenes:
-One of the surprises of this movie was going to be the appearance of Johnny Depp playing a pirate that would be a parody of Jack Sparrow. But Depp rejected the offer. That almost ended up with this project. Finally, after Zach Braff was offered the role and he rejected to replace Depp, Seth Green was chosen to play the parody pirate.
-Mike Newell’s career has always been successful in CMP. He has directed four movies: ‘Alice In Wonderland’, ‘The Hooligan’, ‘The Misadventures Of Harry Flashman’ and ‘The Green Children’. All of them have made net gains and three of them – ‘The Hooligan’ didn’t – have reached the ‘100’ mark.
-Tim Curry is heard in the movie as the voice of a ghost pirate in his return to CMP after being nominated for the Best Supporting Actor GMA for his work in ‘Tales Of The Unexpected’.
-This movie was conceived as the beginning of a franchise. Now, nobody knows if David Makalaster will go on with it in the future.
GET DOWN
Drama / Action
The Cast: Khleo Thomas, Anthony Mackie, Kyla Prat, Terrence Howard, Rob Brown, Cobie Smulders, Mos Def
The Director: Spike Lee
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards
The Plot:
Aaron Jr. (K.Thomas) is living in the increasingly dangerous borough of Brownsville New York. His father, Aaron (T.Howard), is a well respected man of crime. If Brownsville had a Mafia, Aaron would be the Underboss. All his young life, Aaron would be told the stories of New York's most notorious gangsters. Being told "Gangter's don't die." From Howard "Pappy" Mason to Nicky Barnes, Aaron Jr. would soak it all up before bed time and watch the modernized version happen by day. He would watch and learn the tricks of hustlin'. Junior's only real connection to a normal life was his best friend Sierra (K.Prat). She was his age but despised the life he dreamed of.
One day, Aaron Jr. met up with two of his father’s hot headed soldiers named "Grand" (A.Mackie) and Rob (R.Brown). Grand told him something his father never would have. He told him that other crews were looking to get rid of his father. Being loyal soldiers, the two decide to take the offensive and handle the problem themselves. A couple days later, Aaron Jr. tells Sierra that his father might be killed without seeing it coming. She tells him to inform her father of Grand's plan to handle things and warn his father. He does, but instead of the generous "Thank You" he was expected, Aaron's father races off to find Grand and stop him before he gets himself killed.
Or Vice-Versa. Junior's father arrives on the other side of town just in time to join the two before they run inside a known stash house. While Aaron talks the two out of it, they are noticed and are immediately shot at. A shootout starts under the street lights. The three are severely out numbered but manage to hold their own for a while. That is until Aaron is shot and killed. Grand and Rob try to take off, Grand screams "GET DOWN!" but Rob is shot in the side with a shotgun.
Grand escapes, and Rob dies on the ride home. He leaves him in the car near the hospital emergency entrance and walks to Aaron's house to deliver the bad news. He does, and while Junior's mom is hysterical and pays him no attention, and he can only think of revenge. He becomes distant from Sierra, he starts hustling under Grand's guidance. Weeks later, Grand is arrested and charged with the murder of 4 men, two of those including Aaron and Rob.
The trial progresses slowly over a couple of month's time. During this time, Junior is making more and more money and becoming exactly what his father was. He finds out that the District Attorney's (C.Smulders) entire case against Grand for the murder of his father is full of lies; lies that he can't possibly prove. Junior finds out where the DA lives, and drunkenly takes it upon himself to enact revenge by killing her. He's standing across the street from her home, pulls out his gun and slowly walks towards her. Before he squeezes the trigger, his hand is grabbed. He turns to find some random man (Mos Def) shaking his head. He tells the man to let go, as tears fall from his face. The man points towards the home, and we see the DA happily hugging her daughter. Junior puts the gun down and leaves, looking back he notices that the man is no longer there, now pondering if he was an angel.
The day before conviction, Junior sits in his home debating whether he even wants to go. He decides to go, and whatever the outcome he'll know that Grand was a gangster and "Gangster's don't die." Before he heads to the courthouse, he stops by Sierra's to apologize. She kisses him, and joins him. They arrive and sit in the back row. Grand walks in the courtroom with this wild look in his eye. He wants to crack a smile when he sees him, but throws up a fist for black power, cause all they wants is his freedom.
In a couple seconds time, he grabbed a court officer's gun and started squeezing. Then he grabbed the judge, screams out -- "Nobody leavin...." And Junior scream "Everybody...GET DOWN!"
The screen fades to black and we hear rapid gun fire, then an old man's words: "if that's how our people gon' get down, how we ever gon' get up?"
Stark’s Comment:
I personally think that this is a wonderful story, following the tradition of Edwards’ tough stories like ‘Fallen Kings’ or ’24 Hours To Live’, both directed too by Spike Lee. Probably, it will have a hard time at box office but it is the kind of movie worth to produce no matter box office’s turnout.
Behind The Scenes:
-This movie had a complex pre-production. Originally, it was going to be starred by Jaden Smith and produced by his father, Will Smith. But finally it was decided that Jaden Smith was a bit too young to play the lead character and he was replaced by the CMP’s debutante Khleo Thomas.
-Once his son was out of the project, Will Smith still considered becoming the director of the movie. But, finally, he decided to leave the project.
-Other directors considered then for the movie were Tony Scott, Wayne Kramer, Steven Soderbergh and Peter Weir. Finally, the chosen one was Spike Lee. It’s the third time that Edwards and Lee work together.
-When Khleo Thomas replaced Jaden Smith, the girl to play Sierra was also changed as a bit older talent was needed: Kyla Prat replaced China Anne McClain.
-The cast includes talents that have worked before with Edwards, Lee or both: Mackie (’24 Hours To Live’), Smulders (‘Wonder Woman’) and Mos Def (‘Fallen Kings’).
-Mos Def looks almost unrecognizable in the movie due to the make-up work to turn him into an old man and angel.
HALLELUJAH: It promises to be one of the most controversial movies coming from CMP in ages.
Trent Nielsen and Chad Taylor have co-written this gay love story between a young priest and an atheist young man. Ben McKenzie and Ryan Gosling are going to star this sentimental movie that may be considered pretty scandalous. The project has gone through a turbulent pre-production phase (see more info below at The Inner Circle) before Danny Boyle, who has recently succeeded with ‘The Orphan Train’, finally was confirmed to be the director of the movie.
EARTH 3K2: Josh Collins is putting up together a top notch cast for this sequel being directed by JJ Abrams. Among the big names to be included in the cast, there are some familiar faces in CMP like Jessica Biel and Mickey Rourke, who already worked together in ‘Tracks Of Blood’; Ving Rhames, not seen in CMP since ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’; and no other than Aquaman himself, Paul Walker.
THE ORPHANAGE: James Bradley is going to try a new genre for him. Bradley has written this
American remake of one of the best movies made in Spain in recent years. The original movie was produced by Guillermo Del Toro. It tells the highly disturbing story of a woman living in an old orphanage and the strange events that take place after the mysterious disappearance of her adoptive son. Julia Roberts is going to star this suspense and horror remake and M. Night Shymalan is going to direct it. The only previous work of Shymalan for CMP was the acclaimed ‘Cursed Neverland’.
REBEL: Idris Elba joins the cast of this movie about the children soldiers in Africa being directed by Albert and Allen Hughes. Elba’s only previous work in CMP was in another Dawson Edwards’ movie, the brilliant ‘Storm At Home’.
THAT’S THE WAY: Tim Robbins, not seen in CMP since ‘After The Storm’, plays in this Cameron Crowe’s movie the father of the lead star, Cameron Bright. Robbins is having a love affair in the movie with Rachel McAdams, seen past Season in ‘The Beatles’, who plays the wife of Billy Cudrup. Trent Nielsen is the author of the screenplay.
F-ZERO: Terrence Howard, who can be seen this week playing one of the main characters of ‘Get Down’, works with Dawson Edwards again joining the voice only cast of this animated feature. Forest Whitaker, who has been away for a very long time from CMP (his last CMP’s movie was ‘Blink’), will also be heard in this production.
JACK VANCE: A TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY: Matt Kubrick has written this very original story
that takes place in a kind of alternative reality. Jack Vance is an upcoming screenwriter in Hollywood that gets caught in the middle of a strange plot where different dimensions mix. Richard Kelly, best known for being the director of ‘Donnie Darko’, makes his debut behind the cameras in CMP with this creative story. And it is going to be starred by another debutante in CMP: the very popular Neil Patrick Harris.
WW3: More debutantes in CMP for this thriller written by Chad Taylor, starred by Harrison Ford and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Alex Pettyfer and Dora Baird join the crowd of young talents to be seen on screen.
SUICIDE SQUAD: Two sexy young stars will also make their debut in CMP in this Uwe Boll’s
ultraviolent flick written by Matt Kubrick. Tanya Raymonde plays the missing daughter of Kurt Russell, the man that hires the Suicide Squad to find her. And Olivia Thirlby is going to play Tanya’s friend. Remember that the group of mercenaries known as the Suicide Squad is leaded by Mark Wahlberg and Woody Harrelson.
KINGDOM: THE DARK AND THE LIGHT: AnnaSophia Robb is not returning this week at the Silver Sable franchise playing again Heigl’s niece. But that does not mean that the popular AnnaSophia, seen this Season splashing pies in faces in ‘You Can’t Do That In The Movies’, will have to wait too long to be back to CMP’s world. Next Season, she is joining the cast of this Zack Snyder’s fantasy production.
SILVER SABLE AND THE GENESIS COALITION
By Joey Stark
It was Neil Armstrong or maybe some other legendary astronaut who said: ‘If you have been to the moon, what can you do for the rest of your life?’ Well, I think that’s how Bryan Singer and I felt after ‘Silver Sable and the Wild Pack’. If you have made the most successful movie in CMP’s History, a box office of 352 millions, net gains of 420 millions, what can you do for the rest of your moviemaking career?
After months since the movie was released, Singer, my brother Harry and I have not found yet any specific reason to explain why ‘Silver 2’ – an ordinary superhero movie, after all - became such a
huge, spectacular and unexpected success. Moviegoers went crazy with the movie and it became a unique event in the Studio’s history. It was like magic. Something that happens without any specific reason. I wished I could say that we found with ‘Silver 2’ a new formula to make CMP’s movies reach more often the 300 million mark. But the truth is that we didn’t. Maybe we were just lucky.
After ‘Silver 2’, I wondered what could I do next. I had been to the moon! I even considered retiring as screenwriter and becoming just a producer. After all, I had reached the top of the tops and probably I never ever would be able to equal such achievement. But then, I decided to change the perspective. After ‘Silver 2’, I want to focus more in two areas: adult stories and stories only meant to have fun with ignoring financial issues (sorry, Harry). ‘The Impossible Dream’ or ‘Kavalier & Clay’ are examples of what I consider ‘adult stories’. A third instalment of ‘Reform School Girls’ would be what I understand by ‘movies to have fun with’. I am not worrying about box office’s success for a while. Hey, I am the guy that wrote ‘Silver 2’ after all...
But making a third Silver’s movie was almost an obligation. So here we are. ‘Silver Sable and the Genesis Coalition’ opens up this week. And no, none of us – Harry, Bryan, Katherine or me – expect by any mean to repeat the incredible box office of the previous movie. It will be nice enough if we can get close to the 200 million mark.
The plot of this third movie was in my mind since I wrote the first one. I always wanted to give an answer to Silver’s father’s disappearance. So I came up with this idea of turning him the leader of a peculiar organization that works both for the good and for the bad, fighting crime but also committing crimes, something that has finally corrupted him. That’s not in the comics. It’s my own idea. And I like it.
I also wanted to add to the franchise an iconic villain. Dr. Doom, who lives in a neighbour country of Silver’s, looked like a nice choice. And I am so happy having Clive Owen playing the character (sorry, Mr. McMahon). Also, I liked the idea of Silver doing something bad (a robbery) and fighting against the man she was flirting with in ‘Silver 2’ (yes, Spidey). That allowed us to show a darker side of Silver beyond her sexy shining blonde presence.
So here it is. Third Silver’s movie. And last one too? Well, when watching the movie, you will realize that Bryan and I have left it all ready for a fourth one. Foreigner has escaped. Silver has to fix her
relationship with Spiderman. Dr. Doom now owns that strange mineral thanks to Silver. Elements enough to build up a fourth movie. But, while making the movie, Bryan and I begun to talk about being this one the last one. Three might be enough. We didn’t change the plot or the ending, but we started working considering it the end of the franchise.
How do I feel about it now, the week we are releasing the movie? Not that sure anymore. Maybe I’ll just let audience decide. If the movie works well enough, I will consider a fourth movie in the future. But, anyway, I would let quite a few Seasons pass before I even start writing it.
Anyway, enjoy the movie without any further consideration ...and avoiding box office’s comparisons afterwards. Silver is sexy and fun. That’s what is all about.
BEST OF… DAVID MAKALASTER
David Makalaster releases this week his latest story, an adaptation of the classic computer game ‘The Secret Of Monkey Island’. A few weeks ago, Makalaster announced his temporary retirement of CMP. And we know what ‘temporary’ has meant for other CMP’s authors that also announced a temporary retirement… So, this week, we take a look at the writing career of a hitmaker also known for being the creator of the wonderful CMMDB remembering the most famous of his 18 movies written for the Studio.
THE GOLDEN DRAGON TRILOGY
‘3s and 7s’ – ‘Drawing Dead’ – ‘Under The Gun’
Quentin Tarantino
Before the acclaimed ‘Legends Of The West’, Tarantino had already decided to take more seriously his works for CMP after peculiar experiences like ‘Wild Cards: Aces High’ or ‘Ace Banner: Return To Fury’. This trilogy about Orlando Bloom and James Gandolfini facing mafia and triad due to a disputed Chinese golden dragon became an audiences and critics’ favorite and one of the highlights in Makalaster’s career.
MAGIC – THE GATHERING
Sinister Black – Innocent White
Martin Campbell
Makalaster had the original idea of turning a popular cards game into a top budget fantasy franchise. The two installments of this saga starred by Jude Law and Claire Danes become big box offices success and an obliged reference for any other ‘fantasy world movie’ made by CMP. Four or five more sequels were planned and we will wait for Makalaster’s return to enjoy them.
DEVIL TRIGGER
The Wachowski Brothers
Without doubt, the most famous Makalaster’s movie. The Wachowski Brothers put up this sophisticated adventure where angels and demons fought to rule the world in a baroque action show. Matt Damon was leading the angels. The movie still is the top 6 box office in CMP’s history (248 millions) and the alltimes top 2 in terms of net gains (382 millions). It got 6 nominations at the Season 10’s GMA and won three of them, including the Best Screenplay GMA for Makalaster himself.
BULLET WITCH
Bullet Witch – Bullet Witch 0
McG - Renny Harlin
Makalaster also adapted the console game Bullet Witch to two shoot’em up action flicks that were mistreated by critics but loved by moviegoers. McG and Renny Harlin directed the movies and Hillary Swank and Erci Bana starred them. ‘Bullet Witch 0’, the prequel to the first movie, made an outstanding box office of 223 million and net gains of 249 millions.
LITTLE TIN GODDESS
David Lynch
Makalaster made his debut in Season 6 with this very original and artsy movie that told the peculiar relationship between a worker (Steve Buscemi) and the statue of a goddess that came to life (Ashanti). The movie flopped at box office, making only 16 millions, but became a cult movie for many critics and fans.
HUMAN AXIS
Christopher Nolan
Many critics consider this sci-fi drama the best Makalaster’s story. Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly and Joseph Fiennes faced the end of mankind in a quality movie that won two GMA: Best Original Concept and Best Supporting Actor (Fiennes) and added another outstanding box office to Makalaster’s career.
ZANN
David Makalaster
The only movie directed by Makalaster himself. A sophisticated horror story adapting a H.P. Lovecraft’s tale. Luke Wilson was abducted by the devil himself, played by Jack Nisholson, in a quality horror movie that audiences did not appreciate, making only a correct box office.
OTHER DAVID MAKALASTER’S STORIES:
THE HOLDERS (Ridley Scott)
THE METAL (Michael Lehman)
TOGETHER APART (Jason Reitman)
ONE MAN’S HELL (Tim Burton)
MALEFICARUM (Sofia Coppola)
HAWKEYE. THE PREY (Louis Leterrier)
THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND: THE THREE TRIALS (Mike Newell)
As it could be expected, the release of ‘Silver Sable and the Genesis Coalition’ has been surrounded by a strong marketing and promotional campaign. Katherine Heigl could be seen in almost any tv show of any nation in the world during this week. As a small example of that wildly intense promotional tour, here we have the sexy Silver presenting the movie at David Letterman’s show.
Is homosexuality still a taboo in Hollywood? I don’t think so. ‘Brokeback Mountain’ helped to open the closest minds about it. But the truth is that CMP is having some problems during the pre-
production phase of ‘Hallelujah’, the gay love story co-written by Trent Nielsen and Chad Taylor. Two big names, Russell Crowe and Colin Farrell, have refused to be in the movie. But it seems that the reason is not any kind of homophobic feeling. It’s more an ego issue: both considered that their characters were too minor for them. Also, Danny Boyle doubted before accepting to direct the movie. In his case, the reason was only that he would have preferred to take a rest after ‘The Orphan Train’. But, finally, he decided that the story was interesting enough to go back to work. So no prejudices in CMP about the always controversial issue of gay love stories on screen.
CMP has officially confirmed the cancellation of a pitch that had been sleeping at the waiting list for years now. Its title was ‘Kid Hollywood’ and it was an animated feature written by Matt Kubrick about a young boy becoming a movie industry tycoon. Harry Stark has finally decided not developing it. No specific reason has been given. But I wonder if the flop of ‘The Wind In The Willows’ has discouraged again Stark about animation productions. Let’s hope that ‘F-Zero’ works well enough to revitalize Stark’s faith in animation.
The resurrection of ‘Star Wars’ in CMP is on its way. The pre-production of the new movie of the saga, written by Dawson Edwards, has begun. The only thing known for sure is that George Lucas
is in control of his saga again. Lucas will be producing the new episode, as usual. But no director has been chosen yet for it. Remember that Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan directed the previous CMP’s installments of the franchise, when Marcus Trax was the author of the screenplays. Now, Edwards and Lucas will have to decide who will take the place behind the cameras. No cast members have been made public yet neither. The only thing known is that the storyline will have a slight connection with Trax’s trilogy.
So one franchise resurrects, another one is close to its end. James Bradley has definitely confirmed that there will be only one more movie about the adventures of Harry Flashman. Again, the story will be based on the original George McDonald Fraser’s books with variations created by Bradley. The idea is to reunite in this last Flashy’s adventure some of the most famous characters of the previous movies of the saga. No director has been chosen yet to film this last adventure but CMP’s plan is to release it some time during next Season.
The salaries demanded by the stars keep being a headache for any Studio’s president. Harry
Stark decided to respect Kubrick and Tarantino’s wish of having some big names playing minor roles in ‘Legends Of The West’. The problem is that stars like DiCaprio and Stiller demanded their usual salary, no matter they were playing minor roles. Added to that that both Tarantino and Brad Pitt demanded a salary even a bit higher than usual, it all made production costs rise to the stars. The result? The movie has worked very nicely at box office but CMP’s net benefit has been much lower than expected, mainly because most of the money ended up in the pockets of its main talents involved.
And I end up this week with a reflection… If the influence of 500 Days Of Summer could be soon noticed in CMP’s authors (Gordon-Levitt’s sudden stardom in CMP, Marc Webb directing ‘The Bus’, Zooey resurrecting in the Studio with ‘Faded’ and ‘The Bus’…), I wonder what will be the consequences of the big impact that ‘Kick Ass’ has made in CMP’s writers…
SILVER SABLE AND THE GENESIS COALITION
Action / Superhero
The Cast: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Clive Owen, Sam Elliott, Dominic Monaghan, Eric Balfour, Bo Hoskins. Cameo by Tobey Maguire.
The Director and Producer: Bryan Singer
The Screenwriter: Joey Stark
The Plot:
An spectacular chase of motorboats is taking place in an unknown swamp. A man named Ivan Trefkov is driving the one trying to escape. Quentino (D.Monaghan) is driving the one chasing him. As the two motorboats get closer, we get to see Silver Sable (K.Heigl) jumping from Quentino’s to Trefkov’s. Silver and Trefkov have a violent fight as the motorboard runs without control. As they fight, the motorboard approaches to a huge waterfall. Trefkov falls on the motorboard’s floor and Silver puts a gun in his forehead.
‘Where’s my father?’, he shouts at Trefkov, ‘Tell me or I’ll kill you right here right now.’
‘Let’s go together, baby’, answers Trefkov, activating an explosive he is holding in his hand.
Silver is about to shoot her gun when the motorboard falls down the waterfall. She jumps from the motorboard. As she is freefalling down the abyss a small helicopter appears. The pilot is Chen (E.Balfour). He throws a cable to Silver and she picks it up in the air as she is falling. Hanging from the cable, Silver sees how the motorboard with Trefkov in it falls down and violently explodes in the air.
CREDITS
Silver is at Castle Sable, her home in Symkaria, training. Uncle Morty (B.Hoskins) tells her he needs to talk with her. He tells Silver that he is worried about her: she is getting too obsessed lately with the search for his father and taking too many risks. Silver is not accepting any new jobs lately, too busy following any hint that can help her to find her father. Even Quentino and Chen are getting tired of following her in too risky operations that take them nowhere, like the recent chase of Trefkov, a supposed member of the Genesis Coalition. Uncle Morty tells Silver that she should forget a bit about her father and go back to ordinary business.
But Silver does not want to hear her uncle’s advises. She is absolutely convinced that her father is alive and that the criminal organization known as the Genesis Coalition has something to do with his disappearance.
Later, Quentino and Chen also talk with Silver. They tell her that they are not happy working for her anymore. The Wild Pack was supposed to be created to chase criminals and terrorists. But they are only following failed hints about the Genesis Coalition lately that always become useless and too dangerous. Silver, mad at them, tells them that they can leave the Wild Pack if they want, so Quentino and Chen abandon Castle Sable and consequently the Wild Pack can be considered dissolved.
A few days later, Silver gets a mysterious invitation for dinner from Dr. Doom (C.Owen). She knows Dr. Doom is a criminal who lives in Latveria, a neighbor Republic of Symkaria. Against uncle Morty’s advise, Silver accepts to visit Dr. Doom.
Dr. Doom receives Silver at his mansion in Latveria. During the dinner, he tells Silver he has a deal to offer her. He has got to know she is anxiously looking for the secret base of the Genesis Coalition. He will tell her where it is if she does something for him. She has to go to the US and steal the Harmodium , a mysterious outer space rock recently found by the NASA that is said to have an infinite energy power. He is very much interested in having it for some secret experiments he is making. The Harmodium is kept under extreme security measures in an army base in Florida.
Silver accepts the deal.
So she flies to Florida and, all dressed in black and with a balaclava covering her face, she gets into this Army base at night, saving all the guards and the sophisticated laser-ray security systems, until she reaches the room where the green rock, the Harmodium, is kept. As she is about to take it, somebody interrupts her. It’s no other than her old special friend Spiderman (T.Maguire).
He was there to protect the Harmodium until it is taken to a safer place. Spiderman and Silver have a violent fight. Finally, Spiderman jumps on her and seats on her stomach immobilizing her. He takes off her balaclava and he is absolutely shocked when he realizes the thief is no other than Silver.
‘You?’, he says, ‘What’s going on here?’
‘I’m sorry’. It’s all Silver says before reacting.
Spiderman is so shocked that Silver’s attack takes him by surprise. Silver gets rid of him, knocks him out and escapes with the Harmodium.
Back to Latveria, Silver gives the rock to Dr. Doom. So Dr. Doom tells her where the Genesis Coalition’s hideout is: somewhere in the frozen mountains of Kamchatka.
Silver gets a call from her uncle. He asks her what’s going on. Spiderman has contacted him and told him. ‘Are you crazy, Silver?’, uncle Morty yells at her, ‘In your obsession, you have become a criminal!’ Silver cuts the communication. She doesn’t want to hear anyone.
Silver flies to the frozen territory of Kamchatka and travels alone in a sleigh pulled by eight dogs through ice, snow and blizzard until she arrives to the mountain where the Genesis Coalition’s hideout is supposed to be. As she is approaching to it, a mine explodes under her sleigh and she loses conscious.
When she wakes up, she is chained at a dungeon. And her old mate and boyfriend Foreigner (G.Butler) is in front of her. Foreigner explains her that, when he realized Silver was leaving him and falling in love with Spiderman, his whole world and beliefs wrecked down. Then, he decided to join the Genesis Coalition.
‘The Genesis Coalition is not a criminal organization’, explains Foreigner, ‘It just works by itself to solve the problems of the world. We don’t collaborate with any Government. We just do what we think is right. And if we have to act against the law, we do. And if we have to commit a crime to reach our final purposes, we do. And if we have to get involved in drug trafficking or robberies to finance our operations, we do. We don’t take criminals to jail. We exterminate them. We have gone beyond what The Avengers, the Justice League or any other group has ever gone. Law, Governments, morality, honesty… are only limitations in the war against crime. Many people think that we are like HYDRA or any other criminal organization. But we are not. We are the ultimate answer to crime and terrorism.’
‘If you commit crimes to fight crimes, you also become criminals’, answers Silver.
‘Who says so? The Genesis Coalition does not respond to any law or tribunal. We only respond to our own interests and objectives without useless limitations.’
Foreigner offers Silver to join the Genesis Coalition. She refuses. She asks Foreigner if he knows where her father is. Foreigner just smiles and leaves the dungeon.
Silver is left alone and chained at the dungeon for days. Without any food or drink, she soon begins to fall into faints and hallucinations. One day, she opens up her eyes and sees her father in front of her.
‘Hello, my dear’, he whispers, ‘I am so sorry you have to go through this’.
‘Father?’, she whispers. But her father’s image disappears.
Next time Foreigner appears at the dungeon, she is extremely weak. He asks her if she has considered time enough the offer to join them. Silver says she has. She wants to join the Coalition. Foreigner smiles: ‘Now you are ready to come with me’.
So Silver is taken to the presence of the Genesis Coalition’s leader. And when she sees him she just can’t believe it.
It’s Ernst Sablinova. It’s her father (S.Elliott).
Ernst explains Silver that he got tired after all the years fighting against ex nazis and criminals under the rules of different Governments. He felt frustrated too many times as some criminals, with their expensive lawyers, got soft convictions or how some Governments were too weak in their policies against crime. When Latveria’s Government decided to cut the funds given to his organization, he finally decided to disappear and create his lifetime project: the Genesis Coalition. An organization designed to battle all kind of criminals clandestinely.
‘I didn’t want to tell you about it until you had grown up enough. It was me who asked Dr. Doom to offer you the robbery of the Harmodium. It was a test. I wanted to know if you could break the law when the reason is good enough. And you did. You and I are the same, my dear’, he tells Silver, ‘You are ready to join me.’
‘Dr. Doom and you are friends?’, she asks.
Ernst explains her that making things by himself wasn’t so easy. So, to fight some criminals, he had to make deals with some others. The Genesis Coalition has collaborated with guys like Dr. Doom or Baron Von Strucker in some illegal operations just in order to get from them financing or useful information.
‘I cannot accept this’, says Sable, holding up her tears as she realizes what has become of her beloved father. ‘No, father, I am not like you’. Then, she suddenly knocks out Foreigner with a karate kick and runs away from the room. Alarms sound all over the hideout. Guards chase Silver, who tries to find some way out.
Silver arrives to a kind of garage where she takes a sophisticated snow-bike. She rides it and jumps with it through a big glass window as the guards are surrounding her. It’s a long fall but she manages to stay on the bike. Soon, other bikes are chasing her downhill. It’s a highly dangerous descent and some bikes crash on the way.
Finally, Silver herself crashes and a bike reaches her. It’s Foreigner. They face each other in a narrow way beside a deep ravine.
‘I loved you. Now I will have to kill you’, tells her Foreigner before they start a violent karate fight.
As they are fighting, Silver sees a fighter airplane coming out from behind the mountains. It is flying to the hideout. As it passes flying low close to her, she sees Quentino at the pilot seat. She waves to stop him but he does not understand her signs.
Batteries from the hideout shoot the airplane. The airplane answers shooting two missiles to the hideout. It all explodes in a huge ball of fire and snow. Silver understands that her father has probably died.
Distracted by the explosion, she is kicked by Foreigner. She falls down the ravine. Foreigner jumps onto his snow-bike and runs away.
The airplane lands close to the ravine. Quentino and Chen come out and they find Silver holding desperately to a rock to avoid falling down. They rescue her.
Once in the airplane, they explain Silver that Uncle Morty called them when she disappeared without a trace. They went to Dr. Doom’s mansion and demanded him to tell them where she could be. Dr. Doom agreed to tell them as he said he felt sympathy for Silver. So they flied there to rescue her.
‘Did you find your father?’, asks her Quentino.
Silver looks at the top of the mountain where the Genesis Coalition’s hideout was. Now it’s all ruins and columns of smoke. No chance for survivors.
‘No’, she answers in a sad way.
As the three of them get in the plane, Silver tells them they have work to do. ‘Have you heard about the recent robbery of the Harmodium? Recovering it will be our next mission.’, she tells, ‘But before that I think I have to apologize to a few people...’
The airplane takes off and leaves the mountains.
Stark’s Comment:
Here is the awaited sequel of the biggest success in CMP’s History. ‘Silver Sable’ made 130 millions in box office, with net gains of 113 millions. But its sequel ‘Silver Sable and The Wild Pack’ pulverized all existing records with a box office of 352 million and net gains of 420 millions. I confess I am very nervous with this release. If the movie does not become a huge blockbuster after the numbers of its predecessor, it would be more than embarrassing.
Behind The Scenes:
-Bryan Singer had to refuse against his will directing and producing ‘Dragonlance’ due to his commitment with this production.
-AnnaSophia Robb, who played Silver’s niece, is the only cast member of the two previous installments of the saga that does not appear in this one. Joey Stark has admitted that ‘we could not find a place for her in the plot’.
-The new life of Silver’s father as leader of the Genesis Coalition is an original idea not based on the Silver Sable’s comics.
-Clive Owen / Dr. Doom is the only novelty in the cast of the saga.
-At this moment, Synger and Stark have not decided yet if there will be a fourth movie of the saga or not.
THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND: THE THREE TRIALS
Adventure / Comedy
The Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Michelle Rodriguez, Judy Reyes, Michael Chiklis, Seth Green. Voice of Tim Curry.
The Director: Mike Newell
The Screenwriter: David Makalaster
The Plot:
Guybrush Threepwood (Eisenberg) is a meek 25-year old who just moved out of his mother's basement (Mostly because his mother just died of dysentery) on Melee Island to explore the world. All the time spent listening to the old sailors in the local pub and reading old log books he'd "found" at the docks have given him one clear goal in life: To become the most fearsome pirate ever!
This in spite of the fact that his most useful skill is being able to hold his breath for ten minutes straight. Luckily, he finds that three actual pirates (Seth Green among them, looking very much like Jack Sparrow) have sat down quite permanently in the local pub due to the ghost pirate LeChuck (Voice Of Tim Curry) putting them out of business. After some groveling they agree to make him a pirate, IF he can pass the trials of Courage, Swordfighting and Treasure finding; the three most important skills for a pirate.
First, he takes on treasurefinding and the pirates hand him a shovel to set him on the way. On the way out of town he bumps into Sheriff Fester Shinetop (Chiklis) who takes an immediate dislike to him and gives him a long list of things illegal on Melee including piracy, treasure hunting (It should all go to the governor), swordfighting and holding ones breath for longer than 7 minutes. When Fester gets suspicous about the shovel Guybrush convinces him he's on his way to play a game of real life whack-a-mole. Before reaching to far into the forest Guybrush realizes he doesn't know where to even start looking and slumps down on a stump and stares off into the forest. THAT's when he spots the big X on the ground and the nearby signpost reading "Here lies the legendary Lost Treasure of Melee Island™, please leave some treasure for other tourists." He excitedly begins to dig to find.... A T-shirt! With the print "I'm with pirate. ->" even. Dejected, he turns back towards town.
Back at the pub the pirates are getting rowdy from the grog and accepts the t-shirt with a hearty laugh at the print. Next they give him a sword for the sword fighting trial but warns him that it's no ordinary sword fighting; it's the grand tradition of Melee Island "Insult sword fighting". They send him to defeat the island's swordmaster Carla(Reyes). Turning around to leave, he collides with the governor's daughter, Elaine Marley (Rodriguez) and immediately has flash-forwards to them dating, kissing, marrying and settling down. Head-over heels in love, in other words. Elaine, thinking Guybrush is a real pirate confides in him that she would like to sign on under his command, being sick of being spoiled by her father, the governor. Guybrush dodges the issues by saying that he is only in port to invest in a new ship and that he can't leave before he's closed the deal. Elaine is doubtful that he would knowingly invest in any ship from "Stan's Moderately Used Vessels", the only shipwright on the island, but agrees to wait for him and join him on the high seas. As if walking on clouds, Guybrush heads for Carla's cabin only to be grabbed again by Fester Shinetop.
Fester threatens him, saying that "flirting is illegal". When Guybrush says theres no law for love Fester claims to make the law, revealing that he's been courting Elaine for quite some while, even having tattooed her misspelled name on his arm. He finally releases Guybrush who hurries away even more determined to woo Elaine.
When he reaches Carla's cabin, the swordmaster herself is lazing off in a rocking chair on the porch. She only acknowledge him with a selfassured laugh when he announces he has come for a duel. She scolds him for not knowing anything about insult swordfighting, saying it is more about keeping your opponent off mental balance with insults than keeping him off physical balance with your sword. She demonstrates by catching him by surprise and downing him in only two insults. Guybrush's only response is a stuttered "I am rubber, you are glue". But he gets back up fueled by his love for Elaine and with a trick up his sleeve. ("After all, I was the weedy kid in school, I've heard every insult you could throw at me!"). The next duel goes on throughout the cabin, tearing the place down, with some classical insults returning along with many new.
Carla: "Only once have I met such a coward!"
Guybrush: "He must have taught you everything you know."
C: "Killing you would be justifiable homicide!"
G: "Then killing you must be justifiable fungicide."
Carla finally concedes defeat after Guybrush manages to knock her sword aside. As a reward for beating her, Carla gives him... A T-shirt! This time with the print "I duelled the swordmaster and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!"
Guybrush now makes it back to the Scumm Bar only to find everyone hiding from something behind their chairs and the curtains. Confused, he bumps into the only one not hiding; a rather huge fellow(Actually demon pirate LeChuck[Curry]). Still infused with fighting spirit from the insult swordfight, he throws out a "Could somebody point King Kong here to the nearest skyscraper?"
LeChuck doesn't take too kindly to this and decides to hang Guybrush by his collar from thechandelier saying that Guybrush is lucky that he's on his way to his beloved Elaine. Just thenhe catches someone trying to sneak out of the bar, that someone turning out to be Elaine Marley herself.
He proudly proclaims "We've got a honeymoon boat to catch, love! We're going waaay south!" and grabs a struggling Elaine who cries for Guybrush.
The Sparrow-like pirate, previously hiding under the table, comes forth and says that Guybrush has to go after Lechuck! Guybrush refuses, saying that it's a job for a real pirate. Sparrow insists that he is a pirate, even when Guybrush asks about the third trial (to which he responds "Are you kidding? you called a demon pirate captain a b-movie ape! That's either courage or stupidity and right now, I'm thinking it's the former!"). Finally, he gives Guybrush his pirate hat and a coupon for 50% off at Stan's Moderately Used Vessels.
As a final shot, Guybrush bangs open the bar door and strikes a pose, saying "Hold on, my love! I'm coming for you! I mean... Yarr!". The Sparrow-like pirate approves.
Stark’s Comment:
Young generations may not remember that ‘Monkey Island’ was a bestselling computer game produced by LucasArts back in 1990 (although a Special Edition was released in 2009). Twenty years letter, this pioneer game hits the big screen with this adaptation. At CMP, we have been lucky with movies involving pirates (the Corsairs’ movies, ‘Dr. Jones and the Cursed Treasure’, ‘Flashman’s Travels’…) and I expect this one to follow that patern.
Behind The Scenes:
-One of the surprises of this movie was going to be the appearance of Johnny Depp playing a pirate that would be a parody of Jack Sparrow. But Depp rejected the offer. That almost ended up with this project. Finally, after Zach Braff was offered the role and he rejected to replace Depp, Seth Green was chosen to play the parody pirate.
-Mike Newell’s career has always been successful in CMP. He has directed four movies: ‘Alice In Wonderland’, ‘The Hooligan’, ‘The Misadventures Of Harry Flashman’ and ‘The Green Children’. All of them have made net gains and three of them – ‘The Hooligan’ didn’t – have reached the ‘100’ mark.
-Tim Curry is heard in the movie as the voice of a ghost pirate in his return to CMP after being nominated for the Best Supporting Actor GMA for his work in ‘Tales Of The Unexpected’.
-This movie was conceived as the beginning of a franchise. Now, nobody knows if David Makalaster will go on with it in the future.
GET DOWN
Drama / Action
The Cast: Khleo Thomas, Anthony Mackie, Kyla Prat, Terrence Howard, Rob Brown, Cobie Smulders, Mos Def
The Director: Spike Lee
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards
The Plot:
Aaron Jr. (K.Thomas) is living in the increasingly dangerous borough of Brownsville New York. His father, Aaron (T.Howard), is a well respected man of crime. If Brownsville had a Mafia, Aaron would be the Underboss. All his young life, Aaron would be told the stories of New York's most notorious gangsters. Being told "Gangter's don't die." From Howard "Pappy" Mason to Nicky Barnes, Aaron Jr. would soak it all up before bed time and watch the modernized version happen by day. He would watch and learn the tricks of hustlin'. Junior's only real connection to a normal life was his best friend Sierra (K.Prat). She was his age but despised the life he dreamed of.
One day, Aaron Jr. met up with two of his father’s hot headed soldiers named "Grand" (A.Mackie) and Rob (R.Brown). Grand told him something his father never would have. He told him that other crews were looking to get rid of his father. Being loyal soldiers, the two decide to take the offensive and handle the problem themselves. A couple days later, Aaron Jr. tells Sierra that his father might be killed without seeing it coming. She tells him to inform her father of Grand's plan to handle things and warn his father. He does, but instead of the generous "Thank You" he was expected, Aaron's father races off to find Grand and stop him before he gets himself killed.
Or Vice-Versa. Junior's father arrives on the other side of town just in time to join the two before they run inside a known stash house. While Aaron talks the two out of it, they are noticed and are immediately shot at. A shootout starts under the street lights. The three are severely out numbered but manage to hold their own for a while. That is until Aaron is shot and killed. Grand and Rob try to take off, Grand screams "GET DOWN!" but Rob is shot in the side with a shotgun.
Grand escapes, and Rob dies on the ride home. He leaves him in the car near the hospital emergency entrance and walks to Aaron's house to deliver the bad news. He does, and while Junior's mom is hysterical and pays him no attention, and he can only think of revenge. He becomes distant from Sierra, he starts hustling under Grand's guidance. Weeks later, Grand is arrested and charged with the murder of 4 men, two of those including Aaron and Rob.
The trial progresses slowly over a couple of month's time. During this time, Junior is making more and more money and becoming exactly what his father was. He finds out that the District Attorney's (C.Smulders) entire case against Grand for the murder of his father is full of lies; lies that he can't possibly prove. Junior finds out where the DA lives, and drunkenly takes it upon himself to enact revenge by killing her. He's standing across the street from her home, pulls out his gun and slowly walks towards her. Before he squeezes the trigger, his hand is grabbed. He turns to find some random man (Mos Def) shaking his head. He tells the man to let go, as tears fall from his face. The man points towards the home, and we see the DA happily hugging her daughter. Junior puts the gun down and leaves, looking back he notices that the man is no longer there, now pondering if he was an angel.
The day before conviction, Junior sits in his home debating whether he even wants to go. He decides to go, and whatever the outcome he'll know that Grand was a gangster and "Gangster's don't die." Before he heads to the courthouse, he stops by Sierra's to apologize. She kisses him, and joins him. They arrive and sit in the back row. Grand walks in the courtroom with this wild look in his eye. He wants to crack a smile when he sees him, but throws up a fist for black power, cause all they wants is his freedom.
In a couple seconds time, he grabbed a court officer's gun and started squeezing. Then he grabbed the judge, screams out -- "Nobody leavin...." And Junior scream "Everybody...GET DOWN!"
The screen fades to black and we hear rapid gun fire, then an old man's words: "if that's how our people gon' get down, how we ever gon' get up?"
Stark’s Comment:
I personally think that this is a wonderful story, following the tradition of Edwards’ tough stories like ‘Fallen Kings’ or ’24 Hours To Live’, both directed too by Spike Lee. Probably, it will have a hard time at box office but it is the kind of movie worth to produce no matter box office’s turnout.
Behind The Scenes:
-This movie had a complex pre-production. Originally, it was going to be starred by Jaden Smith and produced by his father, Will Smith. But finally it was decided that Jaden Smith was a bit too young to play the lead character and he was replaced by the CMP’s debutante Khleo Thomas.
-Once his son was out of the project, Will Smith still considered becoming the director of the movie. But, finally, he decided to leave the project.
-Other directors considered then for the movie were Tony Scott, Wayne Kramer, Steven Soderbergh and Peter Weir. Finally, the chosen one was Spike Lee. It’s the third time that Edwards and Lee work together.
-When Khleo Thomas replaced Jaden Smith, the girl to play Sierra was also changed as a bit older talent was needed: Kyla Prat replaced China Anne McClain.
-The cast includes talents that have worked before with Edwards, Lee or both: Mackie (’24 Hours To Live’), Smulders (‘Wonder Woman’) and Mos Def (‘Fallen Kings’).
-Mos Def looks almost unrecognizable in the movie due to the make-up work to turn him into an old man and angel.
HALLELUJAH: It promises to be one of the most controversial movies coming from CMP in ages.
Trent Nielsen and Chad Taylor have co-written this gay love story between a young priest and an atheist young man. Ben McKenzie and Ryan Gosling are going to star this sentimental movie that may be considered pretty scandalous. The project has gone through a turbulent pre-production phase (see more info below at The Inner Circle) before Danny Boyle, who has recently succeeded with ‘The Orphan Train’, finally was confirmed to be the director of the movie.EARTH 3K2: Josh Collins is putting up together a top notch cast for this sequel being directed by JJ Abrams. Among the big names to be included in the cast, there are some familiar faces in CMP like Jessica Biel and Mickey Rourke, who already worked together in ‘Tracks Of Blood’; Ving Rhames, not seen in CMP since ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’; and no other than Aquaman himself, Paul Walker.
THE ORPHANAGE: James Bradley is going to try a new genre for him. Bradley has written this
American remake of one of the best movies made in Spain in recent years. The original movie was produced by Guillermo Del Toro. It tells the highly disturbing story of a woman living in an old orphanage and the strange events that take place after the mysterious disappearance of her adoptive son. Julia Roberts is going to star this suspense and horror remake and M. Night Shymalan is going to direct it. The only previous work of Shymalan for CMP was the acclaimed ‘Cursed Neverland’.REBEL: Idris Elba joins the cast of this movie about the children soldiers in Africa being directed by Albert and Allen Hughes. Elba’s only previous work in CMP was in another Dawson Edwards’ movie, the brilliant ‘Storm At Home’.
THAT’S THE WAY: Tim Robbins, not seen in CMP since ‘After The Storm’, plays in this Cameron Crowe’s movie the father of the lead star, Cameron Bright. Robbins is having a love affair in the movie with Rachel McAdams, seen past Season in ‘The Beatles’, who plays the wife of Billy Cudrup. Trent Nielsen is the author of the screenplay.F-ZERO: Terrence Howard, who can be seen this week playing one of the main characters of ‘Get Down’, works with Dawson Edwards again joining the voice only cast of this animated feature. Forest Whitaker, who has been away for a very long time from CMP (his last CMP’s movie was ‘Blink’), will also be heard in this production.
JACK VANCE: A TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY: Matt Kubrick has written this very original story
that takes place in a kind of alternative reality. Jack Vance is an upcoming screenwriter in Hollywood that gets caught in the middle of a strange plot where different dimensions mix. Richard Kelly, best known for being the director of ‘Donnie Darko’, makes his debut behind the cameras in CMP with this creative story. And it is going to be starred by another debutante in CMP: the very popular Neil Patrick Harris.WW3: More debutantes in CMP for this thriller written by Chad Taylor, starred by Harrison Ford and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Alex Pettyfer and Dora Baird join the crowd of young talents to be seen on screen.
SUICIDE SQUAD: Two sexy young stars will also make their debut in CMP in this Uwe Boll’s
ultraviolent flick written by Matt Kubrick. Tanya Raymonde plays the missing daughter of Kurt Russell, the man that hires the Suicide Squad to find her. And Olivia Thirlby is going to play Tanya’s friend. Remember that the group of mercenaries known as the Suicide Squad is leaded by Mark Wahlberg and Woody Harrelson.KINGDOM: THE DARK AND THE LIGHT: AnnaSophia Robb is not returning this week at the Silver Sable franchise playing again Heigl’s niece. But that does not mean that the popular AnnaSophia, seen this Season splashing pies in faces in ‘You Can’t Do That In The Movies’, will have to wait too long to be back to CMP’s world. Next Season, she is joining the cast of this Zack Snyder’s fantasy production.
SILVER SABLE AND THE GENESIS COALITION
By Joey Stark
It was Neil Armstrong or maybe some other legendary astronaut who said: ‘If you have been to the moon, what can you do for the rest of your life?’ Well, I think that’s how Bryan Singer and I felt after ‘Silver Sable and the Wild Pack’. If you have made the most successful movie in CMP’s History, a box office of 352 millions, net gains of 420 millions, what can you do for the rest of your moviemaking career?
After months since the movie was released, Singer, my brother Harry and I have not found yet any specific reason to explain why ‘Silver 2’ – an ordinary superhero movie, after all - became such a
huge, spectacular and unexpected success. Moviegoers went crazy with the movie and it became a unique event in the Studio’s history. It was like magic. Something that happens without any specific reason. I wished I could say that we found with ‘Silver 2’ a new formula to make CMP’s movies reach more often the 300 million mark. But the truth is that we didn’t. Maybe we were just lucky.After ‘Silver 2’, I wondered what could I do next. I had been to the moon! I even considered retiring as screenwriter and becoming just a producer. After all, I had reached the top of the tops and probably I never ever would be able to equal such achievement. But then, I decided to change the perspective. After ‘Silver 2’, I want to focus more in two areas: adult stories and stories only meant to have fun with ignoring financial issues (sorry, Harry). ‘The Impossible Dream’ or ‘Kavalier & Clay’ are examples of what I consider ‘adult stories’. A third instalment of ‘Reform School Girls’ would be what I understand by ‘movies to have fun with’. I am not worrying about box office’s success for a while. Hey, I am the guy that wrote ‘Silver 2’ after all...
But making a third Silver’s movie was almost an obligation. So here we are. ‘Silver Sable and the Genesis Coalition’ opens up this week. And no, none of us – Harry, Bryan, Katherine or me – expect by any mean to repeat the incredible box office of the previous movie. It will be nice enough if we can get close to the 200 million mark.
The plot of this third movie was in my mind since I wrote the first one. I always wanted to give an answer to Silver’s father’s disappearance. So I came up with this idea of turning him the leader of a peculiar organization that works both for the good and for the bad, fighting crime but also committing crimes, something that has finally corrupted him. That’s not in the comics. It’s my own idea. And I like it.
I also wanted to add to the franchise an iconic villain. Dr. Doom, who lives in a neighbour country of Silver’s, looked like a nice choice. And I am so happy having Clive Owen playing the character (sorry, Mr. McMahon). Also, I liked the idea of Silver doing something bad (a robbery) and fighting against the man she was flirting with in ‘Silver 2’ (yes, Spidey). That allowed us to show a darker side of Silver beyond her sexy shining blonde presence.
So here it is. Third Silver’s movie. And last one too? Well, when watching the movie, you will realize that Bryan and I have left it all ready for a fourth one. Foreigner has escaped. Silver has to fix her
relationship with Spiderman. Dr. Doom now owns that strange mineral thanks to Silver. Elements enough to build up a fourth movie. But, while making the movie, Bryan and I begun to talk about being this one the last one. Three might be enough. We didn’t change the plot or the ending, but we started working considering it the end of the franchise.How do I feel about it now, the week we are releasing the movie? Not that sure anymore. Maybe I’ll just let audience decide. If the movie works well enough, I will consider a fourth movie in the future. But, anyway, I would let quite a few Seasons pass before I even start writing it.
Anyway, enjoy the movie without any further consideration ...and avoiding box office’s comparisons afterwards. Silver is sexy and fun. That’s what is all about.
BEST OF… DAVID MAKALASTER
David Makalaster releases this week his latest story, an adaptation of the classic computer game ‘The Secret Of Monkey Island’. A few weeks ago, Makalaster announced his temporary retirement of CMP. And we know what ‘temporary’ has meant for other CMP’s authors that also announced a temporary retirement… So, this week, we take a look at the writing career of a hitmaker also known for being the creator of the wonderful CMMDB remembering the most famous of his 18 movies written for the Studio.
THE GOLDEN DRAGON TRILOGY
‘3s and 7s’ – ‘Drawing Dead’ – ‘Under The Gun’
Quentin Tarantino
Before the acclaimed ‘Legends Of The West’, Tarantino had already decided to take more seriously his works for CMP after peculiar experiences like ‘Wild Cards: Aces High’ or ‘Ace Banner: Return To Fury’. This trilogy about Orlando Bloom and James Gandolfini facing mafia and triad due to a disputed Chinese golden dragon became an audiences and critics’ favorite and one of the highlights in Makalaster’s career.
MAGIC – THE GATHERING
Sinister Black – Innocent White
Martin Campbell
Makalaster had the original idea of turning a popular cards game into a top budget fantasy franchise. The two installments of this saga starred by Jude Law and Claire Danes become big box offices success and an obliged reference for any other ‘fantasy world movie’ made by CMP. Four or five more sequels were planned and we will wait for Makalaster’s return to enjoy them.
DEVIL TRIGGER
The Wachowski Brothers
Without doubt, the most famous Makalaster’s movie. The Wachowski Brothers put up this sophisticated adventure where angels and demons fought to rule the world in a baroque action show. Matt Damon was leading the angels. The movie still is the top 6 box office in CMP’s history (248 millions) and the alltimes top 2 in terms of net gains (382 millions). It got 6 nominations at the Season 10’s GMA and won three of them, including the Best Screenplay GMA for Makalaster himself.
BULLET WITCH
Bullet Witch – Bullet Witch 0
McG - Renny Harlin
Makalaster also adapted the console game Bullet Witch to two shoot’em up action flicks that were mistreated by critics but loved by moviegoers. McG and Renny Harlin directed the movies and Hillary Swank and Erci Bana starred them. ‘Bullet Witch 0’, the prequel to the first movie, made an outstanding box office of 223 million and net gains of 249 millions.
LITTLE TIN GODDESS
David Lynch
Makalaster made his debut in Season 6 with this very original and artsy movie that told the peculiar relationship between a worker (Steve Buscemi) and the statue of a goddess that came to life (Ashanti). The movie flopped at box office, making only 16 millions, but became a cult movie for many critics and fans.
HUMAN AXIS
Christopher Nolan
Many critics consider this sci-fi drama the best Makalaster’s story. Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly and Joseph Fiennes faced the end of mankind in a quality movie that won two GMA: Best Original Concept and Best Supporting Actor (Fiennes) and added another outstanding box office to Makalaster’s career.
ZANN
David Makalaster
The only movie directed by Makalaster himself. A sophisticated horror story adapting a H.P. Lovecraft’s tale. Luke Wilson was abducted by the devil himself, played by Jack Nisholson, in a quality horror movie that audiences did not appreciate, making only a correct box office.
OTHER DAVID MAKALASTER’S STORIES:
THE HOLDERS (Ridley Scott)
THE METAL (Michael Lehman)
TOGETHER APART (Jason Reitman)
ONE MAN’S HELL (Tim Burton)
MALEFICARUM (Sofia Coppola)
HAWKEYE. THE PREY (Louis Leterrier)
THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND: THE THREE TRIALS (Mike Newell)
As it could be expected, the release of ‘Silver Sable and the Genesis Coalition’ has been surrounded by a strong marketing and promotional campaign. Katherine Heigl could be seen in almost any tv show of any nation in the world during this week. As a small example of that wildly intense promotional tour, here we have the sexy Silver presenting the movie at David Letterman’s show.
Is homosexuality still a taboo in Hollywood? I don’t think so. ‘Brokeback Mountain’ helped to open the closest minds about it. But the truth is that CMP is having some problems during the pre-
production phase of ‘Hallelujah’, the gay love story co-written by Trent Nielsen and Chad Taylor. Two big names, Russell Crowe and Colin Farrell, have refused to be in the movie. But it seems that the reason is not any kind of homophobic feeling. It’s more an ego issue: both considered that their characters were too minor for them. Also, Danny Boyle doubted before accepting to direct the movie. In his case, the reason was only that he would have preferred to take a rest after ‘The Orphan Train’. But, finally, he decided that the story was interesting enough to go back to work. So no prejudices in CMP about the always controversial issue of gay love stories on screen.CMP has officially confirmed the cancellation of a pitch that had been sleeping at the waiting list for years now. Its title was ‘Kid Hollywood’ and it was an animated feature written by Matt Kubrick about a young boy becoming a movie industry tycoon. Harry Stark has finally decided not developing it. No specific reason has been given. But I wonder if the flop of ‘The Wind In The Willows’ has discouraged again Stark about animation productions. Let’s hope that ‘F-Zero’ works well enough to revitalize Stark’s faith in animation.
The resurrection of ‘Star Wars’ in CMP is on its way. The pre-production of the new movie of the saga, written by Dawson Edwards, has begun. The only thing known for sure is that George Lucas
is in control of his saga again. Lucas will be producing the new episode, as usual. But no director has been chosen yet for it. Remember that Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan directed the previous CMP’s installments of the franchise, when Marcus Trax was the author of the screenplays. Now, Edwards and Lucas will have to decide who will take the place behind the cameras. No cast members have been made public yet neither. The only thing known is that the storyline will have a slight connection with Trax’s trilogy.So one franchise resurrects, another one is close to its end. James Bradley has definitely confirmed that there will be only one more movie about the adventures of Harry Flashman. Again, the story will be based on the original George McDonald Fraser’s books with variations created by Bradley. The idea is to reunite in this last Flashy’s adventure some of the most famous characters of the previous movies of the saga. No director has been chosen yet to film this last adventure but CMP’s plan is to release it some time during next Season.
The salaries demanded by the stars keep being a headache for any Studio’s president. Harry
Stark decided to respect Kubrick and Tarantino’s wish of having some big names playing minor roles in ‘Legends Of The West’. The problem is that stars like DiCaprio and Stiller demanded their usual salary, no matter they were playing minor roles. Added to that that both Tarantino and Brad Pitt demanded a salary even a bit higher than usual, it all made production costs rise to the stars. The result? The movie has worked very nicely at box office but CMP’s net benefit has been much lower than expected, mainly because most of the money ended up in the pockets of its main talents involved.And I end up this week with a reflection… If the influence of 500 Days Of Summer could be soon noticed in CMP’s authors (Gordon-Levitt’s sudden stardom in CMP, Marc Webb directing ‘The Bus’, Zooey resurrecting in the Studio with ‘Faded’ and ‘The Bus’…), I wonder what will be the consequences of the big impact that ‘Kick Ass’ has made in CMP’s writers…
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