APRIL, 29


DRAGONLANCE: DRAGONS OF SPRING DAWNING

Action / Fantasy

The Cast: Ewan McGregor, Brendan Fraser, Anne Hathaway, Ian McKellen, Jessica Alba, Dakota Fanning, Tim Roth, Ron Perlman, Vin Diesel, Cary Elwes.

The Director and Producer: Guillermo del Toro
The Screenwriter: Richard Franzwa

The Plot:

The movie begins with Tanis (Ewan McGregor) in Flotsum. Taking advantage of Kitara's (Anne Hathaway) absence (who left to fight the battle at High Clerist Tower in the last movie), Tanis leaves to meet with the other companions again. Returning to his friends Tanis tells them the half-truth that he was mistaken for an officer by a Dragon Highlord and forced to continue the impersonation for his own safety. Ashamed of having spent the past several nights with Kitiara, Tanis does not tell them she is the Highlord in question. Only Raistlin (Tim Roth) realizes the half-elf is lying at least in part and makes a point of telling him so when they are alone.

Later on, the companions arrive at the ship Perechon, where the mysterious Berem (Cary Elwes) works as a helmsman. The ship sails out to the forbidding Blood Sea Of Istar, a sea that was created by the destruction of the legendary city of Istar during the Cataclysm. At the center of the blood sea there is a perpetual storm over a whirlpool. This whirlpool continually churns up the rich red soil of Istar from the sea floor and gives the waters the appearance of blood.

Kitiara leads her forces and her dragon Skie to follow the Perechon. Berem panics when he sees the minions of Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness, and steers the ship straight towards the whirlpool. Raistlin recognizes Kitiara despite her armor and Tanis tells the companions the full truth of his absence. Although their faith in him has been shaken, the companions choose to continue following Tanis, much to his shame.

The Perechon is caught in the whirlpool and the heroes realize they're doomed. Believing Raistlin's magic is their only hope for survival, Tanis and Caramon find him only to realize he is planning on escaping by himself by using his Dragon Orb to teleport away. When Tanis asks if he can teleport them all away, Raistlin says doing so would tax him more and possibly cause failure, something he refuses to risk. Believing that Raistlin will not harm his brother Tanis orders Caramon (Vin Diesel) to stop him but is shocked when the mage reveals that he already proved he is quite capable of killing his twin during his test to become a mage at the Tower Of High Sorcery. Raistlin vanishes, leaving Caramon shocked by his twin's abandonment. Soon afterwards, the Perechon tips over the edge of the whirlpool and the rest of the companions vanish beneath the waves.

Raistlin's spell brings him to the steps of the Great Library of Palanthas, where the great librarian Astinus (Ian McKellen) lives. Astinus is said to have been the first living thing on Krynn and will supposedly also be the last and he seems to spend every waking moment chronicling the history of the world around him. The strain of working such powerful magic in order to escape the boat has left Raistlin on the verge of death. When told of his presence, Astinus orders his acolytes to bring the mage into the library.

As Raistlin recovers his wits, Astinus refers to him as “old friend”, which confuses him and causes him to wonder if they've met before. Although Astinus claims that they have met before and that Raistlin gave him an object known as the Sphere of Time, he does not go into greater detail than that.

Knowing he will die soon, the mage requests access to the ancient spell books in the Great Library. Astinus grants this, but Raistlin becomes violently angry when he realizes that the spells of these books can't be accessed without "The Key”, a formula that has been lost over the ages because it was so common that no one bothered to write it down. Watching over the wizard who he believes will die soon, Astinus says his good-byes but then lets slip the fact that the gods Paladine, Gilean and Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, are possessors of "the Key of Knowledge." Calling upon the spirit that has helped him before (during the Test), Raistlin makes some kind of dark bargain saying "Save me and save yourself." As he vanishes, Astinus wonders about what evil he has helped unleash.

While exploring Palanthas, Tasslehoff (Dakota Fanning) and Flint (Brendan Fraiser) have a close encounter with the Tower Of High Sorcery. Flint and Tasslehoff come across the tower while wandering the streets of Palanthas, and despite the feeling of terror that sweeps over them, they get closer than any being has ever gotten. As soon as the pair come within sight of the Shoikan Grove that surrounds the tower and see the dark cloaked shape that drapes its gates, they flee in terror.

Soon, Astinus encounters Laurana (Jessica Alba), Flint and Tasslehoff and relates to them the story of the Tower of High Sorcery of Panlanthas, telling the elf-maid that “its history is bound up in your destiny." He explains that the tower was one of the five original Towers of High Sorcery. During the Lost Wars, it was abandoned due to the rising mistrust of magic. But after everyone had left and contemporary politicians were about to take possession, a black robe mage revealed himself at the top of the tower and proclaimed “The gates shall remain closed and the halls empty until the day that the master of both the past and the present returns with power!” The mage then flung himself onto the gates, dying from impalement as he cursed the grounds and the grove with dark magic.

Not long afterwards, Laurana receives a message from the leader of the Knights Of Solamnia, in which he names her as the new commander of the knights stationed in Palanthas. He also places her in command of the armies of Palanthas as well, since the city is full of peaceful people and the army has been deemed rather pointless for some time.

That evening the citizens of Palanthas are amazed at the arrival of gold and bronze dragons who tell Laurana that they pledge their services to the forces of good. With the Dragonlances in her possession and the good dragons on her side, Laurana organizes a flying cavalry of Knights of Solamnia and has her army take the offensive. Laurana becomes known as the "Golden General" during this campaign as her beauty and courage inspire her troops. Her army surges out of Palanthas, defeating the Dragonarmies in a series of battles and liberating much of northern Solamnia.

However, Kitiara is already planning a counterstrike and manages to convince Lord Ariakas (Ian McKellen), the supreme commander of the Dragon Armies, that she allowed Laurana some success, so Laurana's forces would be spread thin, making them vulnerable to sudden attack. Before beginning this new offensive Kitiara plans to demoralize the Palanthian forces by removing their Golden General from the picture. Accordingly, Kitiara sends a note to the elf maid claiming that Tanis has been gravely wounded and proposing that the half-elf be exchanged for some prisoners of war. Laurana receives this message late at night at a time when she is physically and emotionally exhausted. In that weakened condition hearing that the man she loves is dying causes Laurana to act irrationally. She is convinced the message is true and, ignoring the objections of Flint and Tas who tell her it is a trap, agrees to make the exchange.

With Flint and Tasslehoff's help, Laurana sneaks the POW's out of the city to the rendezvous point and finds Lord Soth (Ron Perlman), Kitiara's most devoted servant who happens to be an Undead Knight of Solamnia who was curse to live long after his body had died, and a pair of wyverns waiting for them. . Laurana finally realizes she has fallen into a trap, but fearing for the lives of Flint and Tas if she resists, surrenders herself. Lord Soth agrees and takes Laurana while letting Flint and Tas go.

The companions survive the shipwreck and wash up just outside of Kalaman. They arrive in the city and find Tasslehoff who tell them everything that has happened. Returning to Kalaman, Kitiara reveals that Laurana has been taken to the temple of Takhisis in Neraka. She demands unconditional surrender and that Berem be delivered to her or she will kill Laurana. Grief-stricken, Tanis resolves to go to Neraka with Berem and attempt to rescue Laurana. Caramon, Flint and Tasslehoff agree to accompany him.

The companions depart for Neraka and meet up with Fizban (Ian McKellen) and the golden dragon Pyrite. During the trip, Berem runs off and is soon tracked to a rock face with a narrow tunnel. Flint is the first through and the first to enter the bowl shaped, boulder strewn valley known as Godshome. During the chase, Flint's heart gives out and he collapses. Berem, hearing Flint cry out, rushes back to help him and reaches the Dwarf just as Tanis emerges into the valley. As he lies dying, the old dwarf reveals he has had a heart condition that has been acting up and he says farewell to his friends. Looking at Fizban, he claims to at last understand who the old wizard is and asks that he ensure he doesn't have to journey alone. Fizban promises and the old dwarf dies. Fizban then carries Flint to a pool of glassy black rock in the center of the valley, a rock which seems to hold the image of all the stars and moons. Reaching the center of the rock, the pair vanish before Tanis' eyes. In the rock, the constellation of Paladine returns to the sky, though when Tanis looks up he still can't see it.

Berem finally decides to tell the companions his full story. He explains he was born near Neraka only a few years before the Cataclysm. One day he discovered a jeweled column half-buried in the ground. This was in fact the foundation stone of the Kingpriest's temple and it had landed there after being hurled through various planes of existence. Berem was overcome with greed and proceeded to pry one of the emeralds loose. Takhisis then manifested and seared the emerald into Berem's chest as a reward for freeing her, revealing the column was like a doorway to the Abyss. Berem escapes from her before she has a chance to kill him and prevent the doorway from closing.

The companions reach Neraka and the Temple of Takhisis, underneath which they know the column remains. When guards become suspicious of them, Tanis decides he's the riskiest prisoner to be discovered and needs to separate from the others. He quickly calls out to Kitiara nearby and joins her, hoping to save Laurana while the others can take care of the column without getting caught. Tanis tells Kitiara that he has come to offer himself in exchange for Laurana and that he is prepared to serve under her as an officer in the Dragonarmies. Kitiara seems to agree but actually intends for the elf maid to be tortured by Takhisis and given to Lord Soth to become his undead consort. By forcing him to witness this, Kitiara hopes to break Tanis once and for all and remold him to her liking.

Meanwhile, a servant of Kitiara’s realizes the true identities of the ones who arrived with Tanis. When he tries to grab the Berem, Berem kills him and an alarm is raised. Berem sets off to find the jeweled column. Caramon follows him while Tas runs off in another direction to draw off pursuit.

Meanwhile, up above, the Grand Council of the Dragon Highlords has begun and Tanis marches into the grand chamber at the head of Kitiara's troops. Lord Arikas presides over the council, since he possesses the Crown of Power and, as Kitiara explains "whoever holds the crown rules." All the Highlords are there. Takhisis manifests upon the largest platform in the room. Kitiara presents Laurana as her gift to the Queen and then she presents Tanis for service in the Dragonarmies. Takhisis agrees to accept Tanis as an officer saying he needs only to lay his weapon at the feet of Lord Ariakas to symbolize his allegiance. Tanis considers killing Ariakas instead, but realizes the Highlord is a magic-user and has protected himself with a type of force-field. Tanis then hears a voice in his head that seems to be coming from a black robed wizard standing next to Takhisis. The wizard tells Tanis to strike, assuring him that he will be helped to defeat the Highlord's magic. Reaching Ariakas, Tanis draws his sword and runs the evil Highlord through with it, surprised to find the Highlord's shield disperse as he makes the killing blow.

Moments later, trumpets blare, a signal that temple is beset by intruders. Takhisis commands the black robed wizard to investigate and he vanishes. Tanis wears the Crown and attempts to exchange the Crown for Laurana but the elf maid, believing Tanis corrupt, shoves him aside. Laurana attacks Kitiara, stealing the Highlord's weapon away from her and knocking her to the ground. Tanis tries to stop Laurana, but the elf maid no longer trust him and shoves him off the platform as she makes her own escape. As Tanis falls he drops the Crown and chaos erupts as all the Dragonarmy factions start fighting for the Crown.

Caramon and Berem reach the chamber of the jeweled column and but are suddenly blocked by Raistlin, who now wears black robes. Looking stronger and sounding a bit different, Raistlin explains that he allied himself with Takhisis to get greater power (and presumably to obtain the Key of Knowledge) and that he has now in turn betrayed her by helping Tanis kill Ariakas. To Caramon's surprise, Raistlin allows Berem to go to the jeweled column. Berem throws himself upon the column killing himself. As he dies the Dark Queen's doorway to the real world closes. By using Tanis and the Berem, Raistlin has now taken away his two rivals Ariakas and Takhisis and is now the single most powerful force for evil on Krynn. The Queen of Darkness is banished once more and her temple begins to collapse.

Believing he still owes some small debt to his brother and Tasslehoff, Raistlin helps them by aiding in their escape from Neraka. Raistlin then summons a dragon and flies away, but not before Caramon makes an offer to accompany him. Raistlin refuses and tells his twin that they are now as the gods meant them to be, two whole and separate people.

Tanis is able to fight his way out of the great hall and he then runs desperately through the corridors searching for Laurana. He finally catches up with her and pleads for forgiveness. Before he can say more though Kitiara arrives. She offers Tanis one last chance to join her as ruler of the Dragonarmies and warns him that Lord Soth is coming to collect Laurana. Tanis refuses and tells Kitiara that he will not only die for Laurana but that he will use his dying breath to ask Paladine to shield the elf maid's soul from Lord Soth. Laurana then realizes Tanis has not become corrupted and that he does love her. Kitiara then surprisingly tells the pair the location of the same exit that the other companions used. Tanis and Laurana flee just as Lord Soth enters the chamber and the Death Knight presents the Crown of Power to Kitiara. Kitiara reveals to Lord Soth she has in fact exacted her final revenge upon Tanis and Laurana, performing an act of mercy that will always keep her in Tanis' thoughts.

Exiting the city, Tanis and Laurana meet up with Fizban, Caramon, and Tasslehoff. Fizban then reveals that he is really the god Paladine. Fizban tell the heroes that both the good and evil dragons will remain on Ansalon and that balance has been restored between good and evil. He says that good was once the dominant force on Krynn during the reign of the Kingpriest, but this bred intolerance and arrogance, forcing the gods to bring about the Cataclysm in order to humble and temper mortals. Fizban explains to Caramon that the spirit who has helped Raistlin at times is the ancient evil wizard Fistandantilus. But he points out that Raistlin is not being possessed and chose his life and his actions all by himself.

Tasslehoff, learning that Fizban is a God, is heartbroken to realize that he will have to say goodbye to yet another friend. To comfort Tasslehoff, Fizban tells him that Flint waits for him beside the forge of the god Reorx. He also implies that Tasslehoff will be experiencing a time travel adventure soon and decrees that "Fizban" will now be his name among the kender.

Laurana and Tanis go off alone and Tanis presents her old ring to her again. She throws it away however and tells him that it is the symbol of an immature selfish love, promising that she will make Tanis a new ring, made of steel and gold to properly symbolize their love.

As the credits roll, Raistlin marches through the streets of Palanthas in the middle of the night and claims ownership of the tower of High Sorcery. Dismissing the spirit of the dead black robe, Raistlin proclaims himself to be the master of past and present whose coming was foretold.


Stark’s Comment:
This should be the first mega-blockbuster of this Season, considering how well the previous installments of this saga have worked at box office. I feel absolutely confident about the success of this huge production.

Behind The Scenes:
-The first ‘Dragonlance’ movie made a box office of 132 millions.
-The second ‘Dragonlance’ movie made a box office of 260 millions. It generated 274 millions of net gains.
-Ron Perlman joins the franchise. This is his 16th work for CMP. That turns him in the most active talent in the Studio together with Christian Bale. Perlman has been in many of the main CMP’s franchises: Star Wars, Game Boy, He-Man, Preacher, Lobo, Magic-The Gathering, Justice League… and also in the parodic ‘Fantasy World’. He has worked too in ‘Kite’, also being released this week.
-Ian McKellen plays three different characters in the movie, something never seen before in a CMP’s film.

KITE

Action / Drama

The Cast: Emma Stone, Russell Crowe, Garrett Hedlund, Ron Perlman, Jeremy Piven, Ken Watanabe, Carla Gugino

The Director: Paul Greengrass
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

The Plot:

In the not too distant future, Las Vegas is now New Las Vegas. Crime is at an all time high, and the city once known for its gambling and bright lights is now known for its crime and...bright lights. One dark and stormy night, the city features the cries of a young girl.

We see quick flashes of the girl's father (K.Watanabe) being beaten by a man who's figure is hidden in the shadows. The mother (C.Gugino) screams as the man's partner rapes her. The young red headed girl (B.Madison) sits in the corner, in a state of shock holding nothing but her kite. Through the flashes of lightning from outside, we see blood continue to splatter on the young girl's face as loud gunshots are heard. The next morning we see a flood of press trying to cover the story of yet another murder. Two police detectives see the traumatized girl still gripping her kite. "Poor child." says the tall detective as he scratches his beard. He tells the other detective, Detective Kanie (R.Perlman), to get the press out of here. He then walks over to the girl,introduces himself as Mr. Red (R.Crowe) and says "I'll protect you."

10 years later. We see the same red headed girl, much older now, sitting in a classroom. The teacher tells her to write the answer on the board. We learn her name is Sawa (E.Stone). As she gets up, we see something glare from under her uniformed skirt. Just as she's begins to write, the bell rings excusing everyone from class. Walking through the hall, she passes by a group of teachers talking about the increasing murder rate and how the city will never recover. Sawa smirks.

Its night. Sawa is on an elevator with some man touching her body, while an old woman mumbles with disgust. She mentions that the man is a pervert and just because he's on tv doesn't excuse his actions. So the man pushes her to the ground. Sawa clicks a button her bag, and out pops a gun and she fires two bullets into the man's chest and forehead. He falls to his knees, and Sawa escapes through the hatch above. A glowing light flickers from the hole in the man's head, and then it explodes, and soon after his chest does the same. Cut to Sawa running across rooftops, as police sirens echo through the city. Detective Red shows up to inspect the bodies. The old man has died from shock after seeing the dead body. Mr. Red mentions the celeb must have had it coming to him.

Early morning, Mr. Red wakes up to see Sawa sitting by the window. "I feel bad for the old woman." Mr. Red tells her to come to him, but Sawa says that she isn't in the mood. The television shows the celebrity's co-star crying about his loss. Cut to a park, we see Mr. Red's partner Detective Kanie sitting alone on a bench. A young man sits on the other side of the bench, and Kanie says "You're late Oliver." Oliver (G.Hedlund) rolls his eyes and asks "Who is it this time?" Kanie casually hands him a picture of three men. He tells him that they all must die because they are child molesters but that he only has to kill the man in the front, because they've called in someone else for the other two.

Cut to a subway. Oliver is walking around while playfully tossing what appears to be a pack of candy in the air. He tosses it up but this time it doesn't come down. We then see the three molesters riding the escalator, discussing future plans to meet up. Just as Oliver walks by them, a car explodes shocking everyone around. Oliver uses the distraction to shoot his target, but notices that the other two men have just been shot as well. He's shocked, and doesn't move. Just as the three men start to explode themselves, someone grabs Oliver's hand and pulls him away.

At Mr. Red's apartment, we see Kanie typing away on his computer, checking off the client list, which shows the picture of the same crying man on tv as well as a little girl. Mr. Red tells Oliver that he has only 3 more jobs to do before he can walk away. Oliver nods and leaves. Walking past children playing with a basketball outside in the dark. We see Mr. Red looking on from his window above. A little girls shot misses the hoop and splashes water on Oliver. She laughs and says she just made him look better. Oliver throws the ball back, but as it comes down he whips out his gun and shoots the ball, making it explode. As he walks away, we see Sawa looking from a higher window. Mr. Red appears behind her soon after, placing his hands on her shoulders...

Days later we see Oliver working in a small grocery store when Sawa walks in smiling with her kite in hand. She buys a few items and convinces him to have a little picnic upstairs, where he lives. The two talk about the assassin lifestyle and how much they have in common. Oliver asks what Mr. Red is to her, and she replies "My...guardian." We then see flashes of her parents murder once again. He asks her about the kite, and she says its the only thing she has left of her parents. She hugs him, and eventually the two kiss each other.

Cut to Kanie giving Sawa a new target, another celebrity. She is to take out a man who will be with his twin. We then see the two brothers pissing in a restroom, when Sawa in disguise as a man, comes out of the stall and begins attacking the bodyguards of the celebrity. She eventually kills the first two, but the third she has to use the "Candy Bomb" as a last resort. It blows the entire room up, sending bodies out the building window into a restaurant across the street.

Sawa stands up from the rubble, and looks out through the giant hole that now overlooks the city below. She realizes that her mini kite has been damaged. A tear falls down her face...then a body guard grabs her from behind and jumps out the hole. Sawa screams....

BLACK.

Its dark. Its raining. A special pink gun rises from the dark setting, and in the dark we can also make out Sawa's kite and her own slim figure. Ten feet away from here lies a man tied up to a wall, in this dark section of the city. The man screams through the tape thats covering his mouth. Sawa steps from the shadows holding her kite in one hand and the gun in the other. We see that this is a much younger Sawa. Her hand shakes when she fires the gun and the bullet misses the man's head and hits the wall instead. Kanie snatches away her kite, and young Sawa screams to for him to give it back. Mr. Red steps from the shadows and has her look toward the man once again. He steadies her arm. He tells her that the kite is her mother and father, and its people like this man who take them away from people like....BLAM BLAM BLAM. Three quick shots into the man's chest. Seconds later those bullets explode and the man's blood lands everywhere, including Sawa's face. Sawa drops to her knees, and slowly falls forward, her head about to smack the dirty ground....

Its bright and beautiful outside. We see something come out the side of a building. Its the present Sawa falling out of the building with a man hanging onto her legs. Sawa barely grabs hold of a metal bar from a billboard, but the man is still tightly gripping her legs. The bar breaks and the two fall from an incredible height. Sawa manages to grab hold of the man's chest and the two fall through completely a glass walkway and land on fuel tank truck. The tank is about to blow so Sawa leaps off the man and runs away as fast as she can. The truck explodes blowing up everything around it and the blast knocks Sawa through a department store window, where she lands on a mattress. She slowly gets up and looks at the shocked couple standing over her. "Its very soft. A must have."

Mr. Red investigates the destruction and sees the hole-filled body of Sawa's target. He finds her gun under the rubble, and hides it before other cops can find it. Later, we see Sawa standing outside of a door with groceries. The door opens and Oliver stands inside. "Are you okay?" he asks seeing a bunch of bandages on her wrist and legs. She laughs and says "I'm pretty sure I have a bald spot, but other than that I'm great." The two share a nice meal before Oliver gets a phone call. Its Kanie, who we seen is apparently getting a blow job from under his desk. He tells Oliver that he's got one final mission. Oliver checks his phone to see a picture of the target and hangs up. He turns around to see Sawa pointing her gun at him. Oliver, unsurprised, says "You'll kill me for them, when they killed your parents." Sawa brushes hair from over her eyes and says "I know what they did." She slowly pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. "Make sure you come back to me." she says.

We cut to a subway tunnel where Kanie is giving Oliver more target information. The target will be on the last subway car that pulls up. Cut to Oliver sitting on the subway train. Just as the train begins to make a stop, a smoke bomb goes off and startles the few people on board. Oliver calmly walks over to the target (J.Piven) who is simply reading a newspaper, and pulls out his gun. As he begins to fire, the target pulls out a gun of his own but both of them miss their shots. Oliver kicks the target away causing him to unload his gun by mistake, and a bullet hits a passenger square in the head.

Oliver and the Target begin shooting their way through the other cars, until Oliver gets shot in the shoulder. The target looks down on him and says "Die." but is shot in the hand. Oliver slides under the legs of the target to grab his gun and shoots him with the exploding bullets.

Later, Mr. Red is washing his hands in the bathroom when the light flickers off. When it comes back on Oliver is standing behind him. Oliver kicks him in the leg, bringing him to his knees. He puts a knife to his throat and says he's taking Sawa and you'll never see them again. Mr. Red sighs and the light goes out once again. We hear the sound of a scuffle and then the cocking of a gun, we then see Oliver firing the gun with only the spark of the release providing light. Mr. Red runs out of the bathroom with Oliver right behind him. Oliver steps outside of the room and gets punched to the ground. He is then stomped by Mr. Red who spits on the bloodied face of Oliver.

Kanie pops out of the room and into the hallway and sees Oliver on the ground. He screams "I thought you died already!" and pulls a knife out. Before he can use it, Sawa shoots it out of his hand and the blade flies into the ear of Mr. Red. Sawa checks on Oliver and tries helping him up. She takes her eyes of Mr. Red who kicks Oliver's gun into the air, which she shoots back down but that gave Kanie enough time to sneak behind her and knock her out.

The next thing we see is Sawa sitting on a bed next to Mr. Red. While on the floor lays the bloody Oliver. Kanie has his foot on his back and a gun pointed to his head. "I never loved him." she says. Kanie forces Oliver to watch as Mr Red starts kissing and undressing Sawa. We see flashes of the two having sex now and when she was younger. Kanie picks Oliver up and drags him outside. Sawa asks Red if Oliver will be replaced, and Red says "We have someone perfect in mind." Sawa gets up and leaves.

The next morning, Mr. Red is at another crime scene. He takes the sheet off the dead body and is shocked to see that its Kanie. Red whispers, "Oliver..." Later that night, Mr. Red screams for Oliver to stop stalking him and come out of the shadows. He continues to shout as hears footsteps in front of him. He pulls out his gun and continues to talk trash to the injured Oliver. We see an arm from the shadows raise up and shoot the gun out of Red's hand and then the hand itself. Out steps Sawa. She then unloads a bullet into every major organ and then one exploding bullet to the brain.

The next day see a bandaged Oliver walking back to his home. He walks by a little girl throwing a basketball against the wall. The girl stops...pulls out a gun and shoots Oliver dead, and runs off.

END.


Stark’s Comment:
Very interesting story from Edwards. I strongly recommend it (and not only because it is a CMP’s movie)… if you have a good stomach for violence.

Behind The Scenes:
-This film is based on a previously existing anime movie.
-Dawson Edwards had the plan to split this story into two movies. He let the final decision about it to the Studio. And finally it was Harry Stark who decided to tell the whole story in only one movie.
-Martin Campbell and Louis Letterier were also considered to direct the film.
-Paul Greengrass has only directed one movie before for CMP: the political fiction ‘Omega’.
-The young Bailee Madison, seen before in CMP in ‘Bedtime Stories 2’ makes an uncredited cameo in the movie playing the lead character in her childhood days.
-Yes, this is the 17th work of Ron Perlman for CMP.

THE UNDERCOVERS

Action / Comedy

The Cast: Steve Carell, Renee Zellwegger, Emily Osment, Jake T. Austin, Andy Garcia

The Director: Chris Weitz
The Producer: Steve Carell
The Screenwriter: Steve Connors

The Plot:

The movie opens with a spectacular jailbreak sequence. Famous mob boss Franco Rampanti (A.Garcia) is at the Sing Sing prison. A helicopter shows up to take him away. His jail mates face the guards while he jumps into the helicopter and escapes from prison…

Action jumps to an FBI operation in California. Agent Nick Carter (S.Carell) is leading a dangerous operation to arrest a group of criminals hiding in a warehouse at the Port of Los Angeles. The idea is to make a clean operation not damaging any property around. But everything goes wrong. The criminals have grenades and it all ends up in a succession of explosions that destroy a few warehouses, port cranes, police cars and even a boat.

Agent Carter is to blame for all the properties destructed in what should have been a routine operative. As a punishment, his assigned to the most boring kind of mission, something every FBI agent hates: a surveillance operation.

The FBI thinks that Rampanti may contact his girlfriend, Sally (R.Zellwegger). During the five years that Rampanti has been in prison, Sally has begun a new life. She is working as a secretary in a law firm and living by herself in a nice residential suburb of LA. Carter will move to the house in front of hers to keep an eye on her. To make the undercover mission more believable, Carter will move there with his two kids.

Carter is a widower father of two: Barbara (E.Osment) and Jimmy (J.T.Austin). Carter is a very strict and a bit distant father. Same as in work, he is obsessed with rules and procedures and he organizes family life as if it was an FBI office. He is a nice but too rigid father.

Carter and the kids move to the house. At the house’s attic, Carter installs all the equipment to watch over Sally’s house at the other side of the street. But he also needs to put microphones inside Sally’s home and in her telephone. To do so, he decides to ask his son for help. One morning that he sees Sally leaving the house, he tells Jimmy to get into it through a kitchen window. With walkie-talkies, he gives Jimmy instructions of how to put the microphones. But when he is doing it, Sally returns home. Jimmy has to hide inside the house and his father helps him to leave without being discovered as he watches Sally’s moves in the house with a telescope.

The idea is not getting in touch with Sally. But that turns impossible soon. Another day, Carter and Sally meet at the supermarket. A man gets into the supermarket with a knife demanding all the money from the cashier. He takes Sally as hostage putting the knife in her throat. Carter reacts. He faces the man and reduces him saving Sally. Sally is very much impressed by Carter’s courage and skills.

That same evening, the bell rings at the Carter’s home. It’s Sally. She is bringing a cake to thank Carter for saving her. She is so kind that Carter feels obliged to invite her for dinner. It is a difficult dinner. The things Carter, Barbara and Jimmy say about who they are and how they live do not make much sense as they are improvising all kind of lies. But still they have a great time with her.

That night, as Carter is watching Sally back at her home with his telescope, you can tell by his face he likes her. When she begins to take her clothes off at her bedroom, Carter feels embarrassed and uncomfortable and turns the telescope off.

Since that day, Sally becomes a friend of the family, something that Carter does not like as it is against the operation procedure. Sally and Barbara become specially close. Sally helps Barbara with feminine advices to help her with her first date with a boy from her High School. In so many ways, Sally is a breeze of fresh air for the family. She is funny and she laughs at Carter’s rigid methods. Even Carter likes her presence, although he still considers it is against his mission’s procedure. In fact, it is evident that he is beginning to feel something for her although he tries not to forget that she is a mobster’s girl.

It all comes down to an evening when Sally invites Carter for a dinner outside. She looks so beautiful and he is so nervous. They have a wonderful evening. After dinner, Sally invites Carter to have a drink at her home. When they get into the house, Rampanti is there waiting for Sally with two of his men.

Sally tells Rampanti to leave. She reminds him that they broke up five years ago and that she never answered his letters or phone calls from jail. Sally tells Rampanti that she was too young and too stupid when she met him and now she does not want anything from him. Rampanti gets so mad with her. Carter is going to defend Sally and the two men knock him down.

Luckily, Jimmy notices something strange is going on in Sally’s house. He looks through the telescope and sees what’s going on there. He tells Barbara and they decide to get into action.

Barbara takes a megaphone from her dad’s equipment and goes to Sally’s garden. Faking an adult voice, she tells through the megaphone that FBI is all around the house and that they should surrender.

Inside the house, Rampanti gets so nervous when he hears that. He decides to run away taking Sally with him. They run through the backyard. Jimmy sees them running away. He takes his skate and follows Rampanti’s car through the neighborhood with a great skating skill.

Carter wakes up and Barbara tells him what’s going on. He calls FBI Headquarters and then takes his car trying to chase Rampanti’s.

Jimmy throws his skate to Rampanti’s car wheels. The driver loses control and crashes on a tree. Carter arrives and there’s a shoot-out. An FBI helicopter arrives.

Rampanti gets out of the car and run away taking Sally with him. Carter follows them. It all ends up with a fight between Rampanti and Carter. Finally, Carter knocks down Rampanti and arrests him. When everything is over, Sally asks Carter who he really is. When he tells her he’s and FBI agent she feels so hurt: ‘So everything was a lie…’, she tells him before leaving.

Weeks later, Carter and the kids are back to their real home. They all miss Sally but Carter has forbidden the kids to even mention her.

One evening, somebody arrives at the Carter’s home… Carter opens the door. It’s Sally. And she is bringing a cake with her.

‘I missed the kids…’, she tells Carter.
‘They miss you too…’, Carter says.
‘Shall we start it all over with a family dinner?’, she asks.
‘It sounds like a good beginning’, answers Carter with a happy smile.


Stark’s Comment:
This is a product oriented to all kind of audiences so it should work easily at box office without surprises.

Behind The Scenes:
-Steve Connors wanted to make a big screen version of the tv series ‘Cover Me: Based On The True Life Of An FBI Family’. He was also planning to write a remake of the 1987’s comedy ‘Stakeout’. Finally, he decided to mix both ideas and the result was ‘The Undercovers’.
-This is the third reunion of Carell and Connors in a row after ‘The Revengers’ and ‘Fantasy World’.
-Jake T. Austin and Emily Osment, both Disney Channel stars, have worked before for CMP in ‘Being Ben Stiller’ and ‘Malcolm Manboobs’ respectively.
-This is the first time that Steve Carell also produces one of his movies.


LEMIEUX: We have had a few rock stars’ biopics in CMP. But we have not visited too much another traditional subgenre of biopics: sports stars. Dawson Edwards has decided to step into it with this movie that will tell the life of hockey star Mario Lemieux. Kathryn Bigelow is going to direct the movie, making this way her debut in CMP. Casey Affleck, who has worked with Edwards before in ‘The Secret People’, will lead a cast for the first time in CMP playing Lemieux. GMA Nominee Diane Kruger also repeats working with Edwards for the third time in a row after ‘Packing Up London’ and her voice-only work in ‘Mouse Guard’.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS: Thanks to ‘Justice League 2’, Mark Strong got a Best Villain GMA nod playing Sinestro. Now, he returns playing the same character again. Michael Caine joins the saga playing Arthur, Batman’s personal assistant, the character he already played in ‘The Dark Knight’. And Rafi Gavron also joins the cast in his third work with Chad Taylor after ‘WW3’ and ‘Dark They Were, And Golden Eyed’. Director Christopher Nolan has stated that, whatever happens with the ‘JL’ saga in the future, this one will be the last installment of it he is going to direct.

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON 2: A bunch of Asian talents join the cast of this sequel being directed by Jon Turteltaub. Ken Watanabe plays again the evil Master Kahn, a samurai with the power to transform into a dragon. Gerald Okamura also returns playing Cameron Diaz’s grandfather. Michelle Yeoh makes her debut in CMP with this movie. And same goes for Kòji Yakusho, seen in ‘Memoirs Of A Geisha’, playing here a Yakuza’s boss.

ALABAMA: Forest Whitaker joins the cast of this interracial love story being directed and starred by Will Smith and written by Chad Taylor. The latest work of Whitaker in CMP have been lending his voice to one of the characters of the ‘F-ZERO’ animation saga.

JASON VS. LEATHERFACE: A long list of CMP’s debutantes join the cast of this horror movie written and directed by Matt Kubrick. Andrew Bryniarski plays Leatherface himself, same way he did in the 2003’s remake of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. Together with him, we’ll see on screen Jamie Bamber (replacing Michael C. Hall, who refused the offer to be in the movie), Dina Meyer and Max Van Ville. Patricia Arquette will also show up in the movie in her first work for CMP.

HEAVY RAIN: Peter Jackson is directing and producing this thriller adapted by Steve Connors from the bestselling console game. David Duchovny and Selma Blair are the starring couple. Other popular names in the long cast are Eric Bana, not seen in CMP since ‘The Blacksmith’s Sword’, playing a private investigator; Kevin Bacon, whose last work in CMP was ‘The Heights’, playing a police detective; and Toni Collette, seen past Season in ‘Malcolm Manboobs’, playing the mother of one of the victims of the so called Origami Killer.

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE: Green light for another screenplay written by D.R.Cobb. Yes, Cobb has decided to write a new adaptation to the big screen of the classic Arthur Miller’s theatre play about a family of Italian immigrants in Brooklyn. Stephen Frears (‘Flashman And The Mountain Of Light’, ‘The Princess And The Captain’) is going to direct it while no other than Francis Coppolla (‘The Toymaker’, ‘Prison Letters’) has teamed up with him to produce the movie. The starring couple is going to be played by John Turturro (‘Raiders On The Storm’, ‘The Dark Tower: Wolves Of The Calla’) and the GMA Nominee Marisa Tomei, seen past Season in ‘Noon’ and ‘A Murder Of Crows’. A quality project any way you look at it.

RESTRAINT: The young actress Jenna Boyd makes her debut in CMP in this thriller being directed by Neil Jordan and written by Josh Collins about the twisted friendship between two young men played by Josh Hutcherson and Cameron Bright.

SHORT ON TIME: This thriller starred by Johnny Depp, directed by John Dahl and written by D.R.Cobb also has a long list of CMP’s debutantes in its cast: Melissa George (replacing January Jones, who could not be in this movie due to her work in ‘Woman’), Barry Pepper, Kyle Chandler, Kathryn Morris, Joe Anderson and Jessica Chastain. None of them have worked in a CMP’s movie before.

FAMILY REUNION: Chad Taylor tries luck again with comedy, a genre he has not been too lucky at (remember ‘Faded’ or ‘Crime Stoppers’…). But this time he is betting safe. Two of the main (and most successful) comedians of CMP lead the cast of this new comedy: Ben Stiller and Zach Braff, working together for the first time. Stiller’s latest work for the Studio was the critically acclaimed ‘Son Of The Bride’, while Zach’s latest work was also a critical success, written by Taylor too: ‘The Bus’. Jay Roach (‘Entertaining Mrs. Sullivan’, ‘Poor Little Rich Boy’, ‘Check, Please’, ‘Guitar Hero’) is directing this story that puts the eye on a pretty peculiar Hollywood’s family.


STEVE CARELL

Movie critics have always liked to lose their time discussing who is the one and only King Of Comedy in CMP’s world. And, although there have been quite a few candidates across CMP’s History, after 17 Seasons and many comedies released by the Studio, the fighters for the throne can be reduced to only two applicants: Steve Carell and Ben Stiller. Carell has developed a successful filmography in CMP with eight movies, three ‘+100’ releases and only one flop so far. With ‘The Undercovers’, his third collaboration in a row with Steve Connors, he takes a step forward becoming for the first time the producer of his own movie.

KING OF THE WORLD
Andrew Bergman / John Daws
B.O.: 70 mill. / N.G.: 50 mill.
By the time this movie was released, Mathew Perry was living his golden days in CMP so he leaded the cast of this comedy followed by Eva Mendes and Vince Vaughn. Carell made his debut in the Studio playing only a minor role.

CROOKS
Martin Campbell / Joey Stark
B.O.: 55 mill. / N.G.: 52 mill.
Carell’s first lead role in a CMP’s movie was this action comedy about two small time crooks in Las Vegas. Eddie Murphy was his starring couple (they would meet again in ‘The Revengers’ and there’s a joke about their friendship in the post-credits sequence of ‘Fantasy World’). Harvey Keitel, Eva Longoria and Queen Latifah were also in the cast. The movie worked only correctly at box office and Joey Stark abandoned his initial plan of developing a sequel of it.

LIEUTENANT USA AND HIS WARM STEEL GANG
David Zucker / John Daws
B.O.: 132 mill. / N.G.: 173 mill.
It was with this funny spoof of CMP’s movies written by John Daws when Carell definitely reached full stardom in CMP. In fact, he became the leader of the so called CMP’s Comedy Squad, a bunch of comedians (Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Zack Braff, Owen Wilson) that have met again later in several CMP’s comedies. Playing Lieutenant USA, Carell instantly jumped on top of the most popular comedy stars of the Studio.

NO MORE BUSH!
Rob Reiner / John Daws
B.O.: 76 mill. / N.G.: 50 mill.
Carell teamed up with John Daws for the third time with this political satire: a ‘mockumentary’ that told the love story between George Bush Jr. (Will Ferrell) and Tony Blair (Carell) with Sasha Baron Cohen playing a jealous Bin Laden. Political incorrection at its best in a experiment applauded both by audiences and critics.

LIEUTENANT USA AND HIS WARM STEEL GANG 2
Ivan Reitman / John Daws
B.O.: 71 mill. / N.G.: 52 mill.
The inevitable sequel. But things didn’t go so well this time. There were some problems during pre-production (Zucker abandoned the movie and Reitman had to replace him, Zach Braff was not included this time in the cast, rumors of ego problems between Carell, Wilson and Black were reported…) and it all maybe affected the final product. The spoof spirit was lost and the movie was just a more routine action comedy. Still, it made good numbers, but far away from the first movie.

CRIME STOPPERS
Kevin Smith / Chad Taylor
B.O.: 4 mill. / N.L.: 32 mill.
The only flop in Carell’s career in CMP. And a big one. This comedy about old movie stars trying to resurrect their glory days was absolutely ignored by audiences. Carell met again here with Owen Wilson and Zach Braff, members of the Warm Steel Gang, but this movie meant the decadence of the CMP’s Comedy Squad as a group.

THE REVENGERS
Tim Story / Steve Connors
B.O.: 130 mill. / N.G.: 236 mill.
From his only flop, to his biggest success. Carell played again his most iconic character in CMP, Lieutenant USA, in this parody of ‘The Avengers’ saga, teaming up again with Eddie Murphy, who played here again his clumsy superhero Ultraman. Steve Connors was the screenwriter of the movie. The black spot of this success was that Connors used the character of Lit. USA without the permission of his creator, John Daws. Harry Stark had to intercede to avoid a legal action for it (see more about it below, at ‘The Innercircle’).

FANTASY WORLD
David Zucker / Steve Connors
B.O.: 108 mill. / N.G.: 60 mill.
Second work of Carell and Connors together (‘The Undercovers’ is going to be the third one in a row). This one was also a parody laughing this time at the typical ‘fantasy world’ movies. Connors reunited again many of the talents of the first ‘Lieutenant USA’ movie: director David Zucker, Carell, Jack Black – digitally manipulated to be a hilarious warrior dwarf - and Charlize Theron. The movie meant the third ‘+100’ release in Carell’s career in CMP. A future sequel of it has been announced by Connors recently.


After an irregular career in CMP, including lights (‘Son Of The Bride’, ‘The Miracle Men’) and shadows (‘Out Partying’, ‘Housatlantavegas’), Emma Stone faces with ‘Kite’ her biggest challenge in CMP, leading for the first time the cast of a movie from the Studio. And that’s the reason why ‘Premiere’, the magazine specialized in CMP’s releases, has taken her to its cover this week.



First of all, big phew! For some weeks, I thought I was going to lose my job writing about CMP’s world. The wrath of the Gods fell with all its strength upon CMP. During just one week, the blog was ruined and CMMDB died… But what people do not know is another coincidence: that very same week, Harry Stark’s computer collapsed. It was finally fixed and all his files were recovered except for one folder: yes, CMP’s folder. Harry has lost forever his archive with each and every old CMP’s posters (more than 500 hundred posters!). Luckily, they are all at the CMP’s Posters Exhibition. It seemed like a curse had fallen on CMP. I have been told that Harry was so discouraged after that ‘black week’ that he was close to decide abandoning CMP forever…

Ok, let’s go back to action with some news…

James Bradley has confirmed that he will finally adapt the novel ‘Dawn Of The Dreadfuls’. This book is a prequel to ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’. But Bradley will make some essentials changes in his adaptation. First, he will turn the story into a sequel and not a prequel of the first movie. And second, the lead character of the film won’t be Elizabeth Bennett, like in the book, but her younger sister Lydia. That way, it won’t be Natalie Portman the one starring the sequel but the recent GMA Winner Emma Watson. Bradley has already begun working on this adaptation and, if it works, he admits he might consider turning the saga into a trilogy adapting too the third book of the series: ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After’.

And related to this… let’s remark another one of those amazing coincidences in and out of CMP we love. Encouraged by the nice experience of ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’, James Bradley has also considered adapting another peculiar book by the same author: ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’. And looking about it at the net, he found somebody is considering too directing a movie version of the book: no other than Tim Burton. Yes, the same director that Bradley chose to direct ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’. A funny coincidence. Anyway, Bradley has postponed his plan about this book by the moment.

Steve Carell releases this week his new movie, ‘The Undercovers’. And meeting this release, his third work with Steve Connors, Connors himself has announced that Carell won’t be in ‘The Revengers 2’, one of the sequels Connors is currently working in. The reason? Connors does not want to have any legal problem again retaking Lieutenant USA as a character of the movie, as it happened the first time. So a new character will replace Lit.USA / Carell to team up with Ultraman / Eddie Murphy in this upcoming sequel.

Another new screenwriter joins CMP’s world. Ben Goldey is the name of the newest writer working for the Studio. His first story will probably be green lighted next Season. Goldey joins the list of the many newbies that have joined CMP during the past few Seasons… but let’s hope that he becomes more active than most of them, who usually write one single screenplay and then disappear without a trace.

One of those cases is Lawrence Abernathy, who made a nice debut past Season with ‘Thrust From Skyline’. Abernathy had sent to CMP part of a new story: the adaptation of the comic ‘Bayou’. And I have said it well: he sent only a part of the screenplay. For weeks, the Studio has been keeping this project at this Season’s release schedule while waiting to receive a complete screenplay. But it has never arrived. So finally, the Studio has decided to postpone this project and ‘Bayou’ has returned to the waiting list.