JUNE, 3


EYE OF THE NEEDLE

Action / Suspense

The Cast: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh, John Hurt, Michael Caine

The Director, Producer and Screenwriter: James Bradley

The Plot:

England. World War II.

David (C.Firth) is a heroic RAF pilot with a shiny personality. His bride is Lucy (K.Winslet), a beautiful and happy woman. They are about to get married. As a consequence of a sexual encounter before marriage, Lucy is pregnant. She is afraid of telling David. But when David knows, he reacts in a wonderful way. He looks so happy and calms all Lucy’s fears. In fact, they get married in a modest but beautiful ceremony as planned.

After the ceremony, David is driving to the hotel where they will spend their wedding night. David’s careless driving ends with a terrible accident…

The story jumps to…

Henry Faber (R.Fiennes). Faber seems to be an ordinary worker at a railway depot in the North of England. But he is not. Faber is a highly skilled German spy working under a disguised identity and picking up information on troop movements.

One night, Faber is at his rented room making a coded transmission to Germany when his tipsy landlady suddenly opens the room’s door with her master key. Without hesitation, Faber kills her cutting her throat with a stiletto, his favorite weapon. In fact, Faber code name is ‘Die Nadel’ (‘The Needle’) due to his skill using the stiletto.

Faber has been informed of Hitler’s urgent need to discover the Allies’ plans to land in French territory. Faber has taken pictures of the so called FUSAG. When his landlady interrupted him, he was telling his superiors in Berlin that he was ready to get with those pictures to a U Boat sent to pick him up at a rendezvous point off Aberdeen.

What is the FUSAG?

The story jumps to…

The Medievalist Prof. Percival Godliman (K.Branagh), now a reputed analyst at the MI5, is interviewing a young soldier who used to room with the murdered landlady. Godliman shows him some old photographs of German young athletes. The soldier identifies one of them as Henry Faber, the man that used to live in the room next door to his. Godliman suspects are confirmed…

Godliman runs to see his superior, MI5’s General Frederick Bloggs (M.Caine) to report about his latest investigations:

The FUSAG is the First United States Army Group. It is a fictitious army positioned in southern England (fake airplanes made of wood, etc., pretending to be a massive concentration of troops). A big charade to move the German attention towards fictitious Allies’ plans to invade France from Calais when the real plan is to begin the invasion from Normandy.

Godliman has been analysing a big number of complicated events until he met the young soldier who identified Faber. Now, Godliman is convinced that Faber is a German spy who has taken pictures of the FUSAG. If he gets to Germany and shows the photographs of the fake troops to the German High Command, the Allies’ plan to invade France will fail. The entire success of the impending D-Day depends upon capturing Faber before he gets his photos to Germany.

General Bloggs believes this Godliman’s theory. Bloggs orders Godliman to lead a manhunt all over Northern England and Scotland with all the agents he may need to capture Faber before he escapes from British territory…

The story jumps to…

As a consequence of the car accident, David lost both legs. Taken out of the war and trapped in a wheel chair for the rest of his life, the once happy and cheerful David grows embittered. He never again touches his wife Lucy. The couple accepts Lucy’s parents offer to retire to a family house at the lonely Storm Island off the coast of Scotland.

Storm Island is a most hostile place. David, Lucy and their three-years-old son live there in a small house, taking care of the island’s lighthouse. The only other inhabitant of the island is Tom (J.Hurt), an old shepherd.

David keeps becoming more and more embittered and aggressive. He does not show any interest at all for his wife or son. He spends almost all day long alone at the lighthouse. He hates being at a wheel chair and always rejects any attempt Lucy makes to show him some affection. Lucy feels more and more frustrated and desperate for the situation but she still feels a kind of moral loyalty to her husband that prevent her from leaving him.

The story jumps to…

Godliman’s men find Faber and they are close to capture him. But Faber manages to get out of trap after trap by his sharp wits, superb physical abilities and his ruthless willingness to kill again and again. We see him in different situations like escaping from Godliman’s men after killing two guards with his stiletto at a local railway station or killing with extremely cold blood two old and nice Scottish ladies whose car he steals…

Already driven nearly to the end of endurance, Faber finally sets out on a small trawler. But he gets caught and shipwrecked in a fierce storm. Faber barely manages to get on the shore of Storm Island. Running up the cliffs to escape the waves, Faber suffers a heart attack and finally falls down unconscious in front of the lonely house where David, Lucy and their son live.

Faber is taken in and accepted by Lucy and a reluctant and distant David. Exhausted after his harrowing adventures, he is tended by Lucy. Lucy can’t help feeling intrigued by that mysterious stranger who has suddenly appeared in her lonely, bored and sad life.

While David keeps going to the lighthouse every day to be alone, Lucy spends the time with Faber. There is a growing mutual attraction between them. And soon their growing friendship turns into an extremely passionate sexual relationship.

Lucy, after those years not having sex at all with her husband, becomes physically engaged with Faber. And Faber seems to really come to love someone for the very first time in his life.

One evening, when returning from the lighthouse, David accidentally discovers Lucy's infidelity. He goes them to Faber’s room and discovers Faber's photographs of the false battleground. The day after, David confronts Faber and tries to run him down with a jeep specially designed for David's crippled condition. However, Faber wins the fierce struggle and kills David with his stiletto.

Now, Faber knows he has to act quickly. He runs to Tom’s house and also kills Tom, the shepherd. Faber knows that the island's only radio transmitter is at Tom’s house. He uses it to contact the U-Boat waiting to pick him up with his photos.

Meanwhile, Lucy is terrified when she finds David’s body with her throat open. She realizes that her mysterious lover is a ruthless killer. She returns to her house and also finds Faber’s photos and understands that he is in fact a German spy. As she is watching the photos, Faber appears behind her…

Faber is holding his stiletto, ready to kill Lucy too. But when he is going to, he realizes that he just can’t do it. He is incapable of killing Lucy simply because he has deeply fallen in love with her.

He tells so to Lucy and proposes her to run away to Germany with him to begin a new life together. Lucy, showing a remarkable courage, fakes accepting the proposal. But when Faber turns, she hits him with a lamp. A fierce fight takes place between Faber and Lucy. Finally, Faber immobilizes Lucy. Again, Faber’s stiletto is in his hand. He is sitting on her stomach ready to cut her throat. But again he can’t do it. He just knocks her down with a punch and runs away.

When Lucy wakes up, Faber’s gone. She runs outside the house. A terrible storm is going on. She runs to the cliffs. She sees the U-Boat near the coast. And then she sees Faber…

Faber is climbing down the cliffs to reach the U-Boat. Lucy lifts up a big rock. And their eyes meet…

Lucy looks at the only person who has given her pleasure in so many years. She hesitates for one second. But then, out of a sense of duty, she throws the rock at him.

The rock hits Faber causing him to crash. Lucy can see Faber’s body death at the cliffs.

The U-Boat submerges when the German realize that Faber has died.

Lucy sits at the edge of the cliffs, rain falling down on her, and begins to cry…

Godliman and his men arrive to the island when the storm clears. Lucy sent a radio message asking for help. Godliman’s men take care of the bodies of David, Tom and Faber. Meanwhile, Lucy offers Godliman a coffee at the kitchen of the house. Godliman is impressed by the cold and distant toughness of that woman…


Stark’s Comment:
A very interesting and absorbing plot. Maybe a bit too classic for young audiences. It should work nicely at box office but, to be honest, I don’t expect it to become a blockbuster.

Behind The Scenes:
-The film is based on a Ken Follet’s book. In 1981, Richard Marquand directed a movie based on the book. Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan played the lead roles.
-This is the 6th directional job of James Bradley.
-This is the eigth time that Kate Winslet works with James Bradley.
-Michael Caine has already been seen before during this CMP’s Season in ‘Foods And Other Languages’ and ‘Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths’
-Kenneth Branagh has worked with Bradley before in ‘The Misadventures Of Harry Flashman’ (actor), ‘Flashman’s Travels’ (director), ‘Flashman And The Mountain Of Light’ (actor) and ‘Game Of Truth’ (actor).
-Out of CMP, Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes were the starring couple of ‘The Reader’.

DEATH CRUISE

Action

The Cast: Eliza Dushku, Michelle Rodriguez, Steve Buscemi, Rose McGowan, Christopher Walken, Sid Haig.

The Director: Robert Rodriguez
The Screenwriter: Joey Stark

The Plot:

The film opens with a spectacular car chase in Las Vegas. Something like a dozen of police cars are chasing Vixen (M.Rodriguez), who is riding a big bike. She is able to drive and shoot her guns at the same time with an amazing skill. All kind of things happen during the chase: Vixen’s bike drifts and it slips behind a huge truck without her falling, police cars crush and suffer wild accidents, a young boy is almost run over by two police cars but finally he is saved by millimeters… The long sequence ends when Vixen’s bike is shot. She leaves the bike and jumps to the roof of a truck on a lower lane of the highway. She keeps shooting her guns standing on top of the truck. Then she runs away jumping from one lane to another on the vehicles’ top. Finally, she escapes. But when she feels safe, she looks down and suddenly realizes that she’s been shot. Her stomach is bleeding strongly…

Action jumps to a beautiful countryside extremely calmed compared with the previous wild action. We see a very nice country house, a garden, a stable… It’s an idyllic scenario. A woman is working on the garden. As the camera approaches, we realize she is Jessica (E.Dushku).

Suddenly, the peace of the place is broken. We hear the sound of helicopters coming. Jessica looks up and sees them. Four helicopters coming down to her yard. Jessica runs and hides at the stable. Ropes fall from the helicopter. SWAT agents come down from the ropes. They look all over the house and surroundings. Some of them get into the stable. Jessica attacks them there. She fights them with karate throwing some of them to the pigs’ shit or underneath the horses. It takes ten men to finally immobilize her.

A man (S.Buscemi) steps out from one of the helicopters then. It’s a nasty looking man with greasy here and an unkempt suit. Every time we see him in the movie, there’s a cigarette handing from the corner of his mouth. He introduces himself to Jessica: ‘My name is Seamus ‘Smokey’ Santini. Thanks to mom and dad, I have an Italian brain in an Irish body. A perfect mix. I am an FBI agent. Some people call me ‘Triple S’ but you and me are going to be friends so you can call me Smokey.’

Smokey tells Jessica about Vixen. Right now, Vixen is considered the most wanted criminal by the FBI. Everybody has failed in the mission of arresting her. So Smokey has decided to try new methods out of the official procedures: he wants Jessica to capture Vixen. Dead or alive, he says.

‘What if I do not want to cooperate?’, asks him Jessica.
Smokey smiles showing his stained teeth: ‘We know where you got the money to buy all this beautiful farm from… You sold that truck full of drugs you took from Negro and Mr. M.A. You will cooperate… or you will be arrested right now and accused of drug trafficking…’
‘And what will happen if I do the job?’, asks Jessica.
‘You will be allowed to watch the sunset in your farm for the rest of your life’, answers Smokey.

So Jessica accepts the deal. Before leaving, Smokey asks Jessica where her girlfriend is. Jessica only answers: ‘Things just didn’t work out between us.’

Action jumps to Vixen. She is seriously wounded. She has stolen a car and we see her driving through the Mojave Desert. Her stomach still is full of blood. She looks as if she is about to faint. Finally she arrives to a small and dirty bar, grill and motel in the middle of nowhere. As soon as she crosses the door, Vixen faints.

When she wakes up, she is on a bed and a woman is looking at her: it’s Naomi (R.McGowan), her old mate and rival at the Reform School.

‘How did you find me and what are you doing here?’, asks her Rose, not in a friendly way at all.
‘I need a place to hide for a while’, Vixen tells her, ‘Everybody is looking for me. FBI, DEA, NSA, CIA and probably even the fucking county sheriff want to capture me. I knew you had this business here. Don’t ask me why. I just know a lot of things about a lot of people. It’s part of my job.’
‘We are not friends, remember? Why should I help you?’, insists Noemi.
‘Because I’ll pay you a lot of money if you let me stay until I recover’, says Vixen.
‘Money is a good starting point for a friendship’, replies Noemi, smiling at last.

Action returns to Jessica. We see her at a night club of New York City where small time criminals and mobsters usually meet. Two thugs are flirting with her and she lets them believe she is interested. They ask her to go with them to a hotel and she accepts. But when they leave the club and walk down a dark street to get into a car, Jessica attacks them and beats them up with karate. Then she tells them she knows they work for Mr. M.A. and she wants to know where to find him. They tell Jessica Mr.M.A. is very sick, nearly dying of lung cancer. He never leaves his house in Long Island anymore.

‘Thank you, guys’, Jessica tells them before leaving them lying on the floor so hurt, ‘Now, you better forget we met. Mr. M.A. would not be happy to know you told me where to find him… Oh, and about going to a hotel room with you… maybe next time we meet.’

Action jumps to Mr. M.A.’s (C.Walken) bedroom. He is in bed connected to a breathing machine. He looks so pale and deteriorated. When he speaks from behind an oxygen mask, you can hear the air coming out from his lungs as strongly as his voice (almost in a Darth Vader’s style). When we see him, he is talking by a cell:

‘You are burnt’, he’s saying, ‘Every American police has your picture in his wallet, sweetheart. There’s a time in your job when you are not useful anymore. That’s the moment to retire. All that is left for you is to run and hide.’

Vixen is the one talking with him by the phone. She says:
‘So after all I’ve done for you, you are leaving me by myself, right?’
‘Life is a twisted run we all have to go through by ourselves’, answers Mr.M.A.
‘I will kill you for this’, threatens him Vixen.
‘Too late, my dear’, answers him, ‘Allmighty God has you in advance…’

Mr. M.A. disconnects the call. And when he looks up, he sees Jessica standing in front of her bed.

‘Remember me?’, asks him Jessica.
‘I never forget the face of a bitch’, answers him, ‘How did you get here?’
‘Let’s say that some of your bodyguards will have to visit the hospital…’, she says, ‘I only want to know where can I find Vixen?’

Mr.M.A. says he does not know where she is. Jessica holds the tube that connects the mask to the breathing machine and presses it. Mr. M.A. begins to suffocate. ‘Are you sure you don’t know it?’, Jessica insists. Finally, Mr.M.A. whispers: ‘Somewhere in Nevada’. Jessica smiles. ‘Thank you. And you should consider to quit smoking’, she says before leaving the bedroom.

Action jumps to Vixen. She has stayed at Naomi’s hotel for a few weeks, recovering from her wounds. She helps Naomi working as a waitress. They talk about Jessica and the old days at the Reform School. Vixen asks Naomi if she knows where Jessica may be now and she says no. Now that Mr. M.A. does not want her working for him anymore, Vixen doubts if leaving the USA and begin a new life abroad or finishing her last work: killing Jessica.

Jessica is in Las Vegas. She meets with Smokey there. Jessica asks him for help to find any clue that can take her to Vixen. Agents begin to ask about Vixen and show pictures of her to many people of Las Vegas’ underworld. One man to see the picture is a bounty-hunter known as Jack ‘Veneno’ Krumsky (S.Haig)… And the picture reminds him of the waitress he saw at a lonely bar he recently stopped by…

While she is having a drink in a Casino, a man steps into Jessica. He only tells him she has something for her from Mr.M.A. The man tells Jessica that Mr.M.A. is not happy with one of her employees: Vixen. She has become ‘too popular’ lately at the Most Wanted Criminal top list… So, after Jessica’s visit to Mr.M.A., he gave him a thought about their ‘friendly talk’ and decided to help Jessica to find Vixen. ‘Mr.M.A. would be happy with Jessica and would forget their old problems if she helps him to get rid of that annoying employee…’, the man says. The man gives Jessica a paper with a cell number: it’s Vixen’s number.

So, now, Mr.M.A. not only had ordered Vixen to kill Jessica but now he has also helped Jessica to find and kill Vixen…

One night, Vixen suddenly wakes up at the motel. The bar’s on fire. Vixen runs there. When she gets into the bar, she finds Naomi’s body lying there. When she tries to know if she is dead or alive by looking for the pulse in her neck, she notices with horror that her head is separated from her body. She has been decapitated!

A man emerges from the flames. It’s ‘Veneno’. He is holding a katana.

‘Veneno’ and Vixen have this wild fight in between the fire and the falling burning roof of the bar. It all ends up when Vixen hits ‘Veneno’ with a piece of a beam in flames. ‘Veneno’ falls stunned. He is opening his mouth to say something when Vixen introduces the beam in his mouth. ‘Eat this!’, she yells. ‘Veneno’ dies in a most horrible way with fire coming out from his mouth…

Vixen leaves the motel in a car. She drives all night and finally stops at the rest at dawn in the middle of the desert. Her cell rings. And it’s Jessica…

‘How about an old school girls reunion?’, Jessica tells her.
‘It’ll be my pleasure. Just tell me where and when…’, answers Vixen.

So it all comes down to a final showdown at an old gas plant where Jessica and Vixen agree to meet.

The gas plant looks like a post-apocalyptic scenario full of gateways, plumbing, big tanks, containers and stairways.

Jessica and Vixen meet there. And a brutal fight between them begins. Mostly, it is a karate fight but they use anything they find to attack the other in a long and violent fighting sequence…

Sometimes it seems like Vixen is going to win the fight. Sometimes it looks Jessica is winning. Soon, both are dirty and bleeding.

There is this strange moment during the fight… Vixen falls over Jessica. Their faces are so close. They look at each other for a long instant. Then, they passionately kiss in the mouth. After the kiss, both stand up and go on fighting to death.

While the girls keep fighting inside de gas plant, Smokey arrives in a car outside. He is by himself. He had Jessica’s phone intervened so he knew where she is.

He gets into the gas plant and notices a smell. During the fight, the girls have hit and holed one of the tanks. There is a gas leak.

Smokey sees the girls fighting in the middle of a gateway near the ceiling. He turns back and gets out of the plant. Then, he takes his cigarette from the corner of his mouth. Smokey throws the cigarette inside the plant. Then, he gets into the car and drives away.

We have a last vision of Vixen and Jessica fighting. Then, a huge explosion blows up the whole gas plant with the girls inside. A big ball of fire rises.

It seems impossible that any of them can survive to the explosion. But when the ball of fire comes down, we see the dark silhouette of one woman coming out from the fire and slowly walking away… One of them has survived.

Is it Vixen or Jessica?


Stark’s Comment:
This movie puts an end (I think) to the ‘Reform School Girls’ saga. My brother Joey has so much fun writing these films so… what can I do? He says it is a cult saga, whatever that means… To be honest, I expect this one to make the same poor box office the previous installments did.

Behind The Scenes:
-Previous movies of this saga:
‘Reform School Girls’. Written and directed by Matt Kubrick. Produced by Quentin Tarantino. B.O.: 21 mill. Net Losses: 1 mill.
‘Tracks Of Blood’. Written by Joey Stark. Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Produced by Quentin Tarantino. B.O.: 41 mill. Net Gains: 9 mill.
‘Vixen’. Written by Joey Stark. Directed by Rob Coen. B.O.: 40 mill. Net Gains: 11 mill.
-Dushku, Rodriguez and McGowan were together in ‘Reform School Girls’. Then, Dushku starred ‘Tracks Of Blood’ and Rodriguez starred ‘Vixen’.
-Christopher Walken has been in all the movies of the saga except for ‘Reform School Girls’.
-Sid Haig was cast for this movie right after Joey Stark saw him in ‘Jason Vs Leatherface’. He replaced Michael Madsen.

F-ZERO AX

Action / Racing / Animation

The Cast Of Voices: Josh Hartnett, Famke Jansen, John Malkovich, Alan Rickman, Forest Whitaker, Terrence Howard, Spencer Breslin, Katie Holmes, Bruce Willis

The Director: Karyn Kusama
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

The Plot:

A beautiful blue sky with big white clouds. Something falls through the cloud, making the words "F-ZERO AX" in the cloud. We hear our hero's voice screaming "YES!" as we see him diving head first with no equipment but his famed racing helmet. We see that above him is a giant ship with "SUMMERS TECH" written on the side. A nervous Jody Summers (F.Jansen) watches Captain Falcon (J.Hartnett) flipping around in the sky as he falls, while his trusty robot companion, QQQ (S.Breslin), keeps track of his vitals. Falcon continues to free fall towards the ground below. As he's just a few seconds from smashing into the ground, Captain Falcon presses a small button on his wrist and we see the Blue Falcon race car zip below him from out of nowhere catching him comfortably. Falcon laughs from the thrill, and tells Jody that she can relax now. We follow him as he speeds through Port Towns which is marked by towering skyscrapers, pyramid-shaped office buildings and is bordered by beautiful giant mountains.

Back in Mute City, we see a giant bucket of chicken sitting on a barrel meant to be a desk. Two alien creatures stand in front of the desk shivering like cowards. Behind that desk though, is a familiar face...the face of Samurai Goroh (J.Malkovich). He's ripping through chicken and leaving nothing but bones. He tells his henchmen that if they want to start eating more then they can't let Black Shadow and his gang take over their territory. "Now...GET TO IT!" he screams.

At Falcon's garage, Jody Summers and QQQ are busy working on yet another new invention for her company. She glances up at the clock and sees how late it is. She stands up, jumps into her white and purple racer, with the aptly titled "WhiteCat" logo on the side and drives off. QQQ scratches his metal head and shrugs.

Elsewhere, Captain Falcon finds himself in Casino Palace, the entertainment district on the outskirts of Mute City. He pulls up slowly at a red light, when a car pulls up beside him. He looks over to see a blond haired woman who he recognizes as Jane Christie (K.Holmes), who he hasn't seen since his crash. Jane winks and speeds off just as the light turns green. Captain Falcon smirks and races after her. The two speed through the bright lights and flashy area that is Casino Palace until they a reach a cliff where Jane narrowly stops before tipping over the edge. She steps outside as if it wasn't a big deal, and walks over to the Blue Falcon that just pulled up. "Jane, I haven't seen you since I was in the hospital..."

Jody is driving around town looking for Captain Falcon when she sees him standing in the middle of the street. She comes just inches away from hitting him. As she gets out the car, he turns away and walks towards a crowd of people. The crowd surround him asking for autographs. Jody realizes that Captain Falcon is wearing Red instead of his trademark blue outfit. She rushes towards the crowd knowing that something can't be right, but before she can get through the fake Captain Falcon clears his own path by giving a super punch to an ordinary citizen who turns out to be Dr. Stewart (A.Rickman). The crowd is both in shock and furious at who they believe to be Falcon. The Police Commander (T.Howard) shows up instantly and surrounds him, but the Internova Police Force doesn't stand a chance as this Captain Falcon is just as slick and strong as our hero.

A small ship appears overhead and the sky grows to a dark red. We see high above a figure standing on top of the ship. Its Black Shadow (F.Whitaker), and he tells BLOOD Falcon that his work here is done. He shouts down to the people that a new day is approaching.

Back at the cliff, the real Captain Falcon is kissing Jane Christie. He breaks the kiss and tells her that this can't happen. He tells her that he barely knows her. Jane gives him a devilish smirk and pushes him off the cliff and struts away. Falcon hits a few rocks before he lands on something soft and silver. He looks down and realizes that he just landed on top of the SUMMERS TECH ship, operated by QQQ. Falcon slides inside the window into the cockpit, and QQQ tells him that Mute City is going to be in ashes if he doesn't get there soon and that Jody is in the center of it all.

Black Shadow notices Jody amongst the crowd and orders the fake Falcon to get rid of her. Just as he grabs her arm, he's kicked in the face by a swooping Captain Falcon! Black Shadow quickly retreats and Blood Falcon follows in his own red and yellow F-zero vehicle. Jody shouts "Falcon!!" as she tosses him her power coin to start her car. He hops in, and takes off after the two.

During the chase, Black Shadow shoots rockets down at Captain Falcon while the fake Falcon tries to escape. Captain Falcon eventually rams Blood Falcon into the path of the incoming rocket and is instantly blown up. Black Shadow's ship lands at the top of a giant black castle, and Captain Falcon drives straight through the entrance. He flips out of the car, and sees Black Shadow standing there smirking.

"This is where it ends, Falcon! You will be a pest no more!" says Shadow. Captain Falcon gets into his stance and motions for Black Shadow to bring it on. The two fight hard, with neither getting the advantage for too long, until Jody and QQQ bursts through the ceiling with their ship, which distracts Shadow just long enough for Falcon to give his brilliant Falcon punch.

Shadow is down for the count, and Jody hugs Captain Falcon. Before they can kiss, they hear clapping. A mysterious figure walks out from the shadows. He's wearing red, yellow and purple and stands about 8 feet tall. He calls himself "DEATHBORN" (B.Willis).

Captain Falcon gently pushes Jody behind him, gets into his fighting stance, smirks and says "Show me ya moves."


Stark’s Comment:
A very uncertain release. I just can’t feel sure about it. ‘F-Zero’ made a great box office of 108 millions. And then, the sequel ‘F-Zero GX’ made an unexpectedly weak box office of only 50 millions. So I am not sure if this franchise has future or not.

Behind he Scenes:
-These films are based on an anime style series of video games.
-After the disappointing box office of the second movie of the saga, Karyn Kusama considered leaving it. But Harry Stark finally convinced her to direct too this third installment.
-Dawson Edwards is already working in other animated film completely different to this one: ‘Mouse Guard 2’.
-Edwards has already written a fourth screenplay of this series. But Harry Stark has decided that he will only develop it if this one works at box office better than ‘F-Zero GX’.


THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY: Ben Tyler will be officially back to CMP with this movie written and directed by him. The movie is going to be an artsy experimental movie inspired by the 1974’s album released by the rock band Genesis with the same title. It tells the story of a Puerto Rican immigrant, Rael, in New York City. And to play Rael, the chosen one is no other than the two GMAs Winner James Franco. Before accepting to be in this movie, Franco has rejected lately quite a few job offers, including leading roles in ‘Mario’ and ‘Jason Vs Leatherface’. His latest work in CMP was the critically acclaimed ‘Whatever Happened To Holden Caulfield?’. He got two nominations at the GMA for that movie. Tyler has directed before for CMP the comedy ‘Captain Planet’ and one of the short stories in ‘Tales Of The Unexpected’.

THE PAPER MAN: Christoph Waltz, who has worked before with Joey Stark in ‘Trail Of The Lost Empire’, and Isabella Rossellini, making her debut in CMP, will play Jamie Bell’s parents in this biopic of the Austrian soccer player from the 1930’s Mathias Sindelar. Daniel Craig will also be seen in the film playing a minor role as the coach of the German national team. Joey Stark is directing and producing the film based on his own screenplay.

FIRST FLIGHT: Ben Goldey is the name of the new CMP’s screenwriter making his debut with this sci-fi adventure. JJ Abrams is going to direct and produce it. Abrams’ latest directional job for the Studio was ‘Earth 3K2’. After that, he produced Chad Taylor’s ‘Dark They Were, And Golden Eyed’, another sci-fi film, directed by Jack Bender. Mathew Fox was the lead star of that movie and he will also play the lead character of this one. That means another reunion of Abrams and Fox in CMP after their work together in the tv series ‘Lost’.

THE SHERIFF, SALOON AND THE STORM: The voice of Bruce Willis can be heard in this week’s release ‘F-Zero AX’. That was the first time that Willis and Dawson Edwards worked together. And the experience must have been satisfactory because Edwards has chosen Willis to co-star with Al Pacino this western directed by Steven Soderbergh. Willis will play the mysterious man known as ‘The Storm’. Also in the film, we’ll see a regular in Edwards’ films: Joshua ‘The Flash’ Jackson. This will be the eighth time Edwards and Jackson work together. In fact, Jackson and Pacino already met in other story written by Dawson Edwards: the thriller ‘What You Deserve’.

MARIO: It is not being easy for Chad Taylor to put up the cast of this live action adventure of Supermario. Taylor wanted to turn this movie into a meeting point of all the main CMP’s comedians. But not all of them have been interested in the idea. Jack Black was offered to play Wario while Steve Carell was offered to play Waluigi. And both have rejected the offer. To replace them, Taylor has chosen two CMP’s debutantes: Danny McBride and Bill Hader. Taylor had gone through other last minute cast changes before when James Franco refused the offer to play Luigi and he had to be replaced by Paul Rudd. Seth Rogen was cast to play Mario from the very first moment.

BOARD BREAKER: Josh Collins has written and is directing this story about a boy gaining self-esteem through martial arts. Max Records is playing the leading role. Together with him, other CMP’s debutante will be seen in the film: Jackie Earl Haley, seen in the 2010 version of ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’ playing Freddy Krueger. Also in this film we’ll see Madeline Carroll, who has worked with Collins before in ‘The Fantastic Island’ and ‘Little Miss Dollface’.

HUNGER GAMES: Elijah Kelley and Andrew Garfield (yes, the new Spider Man!) make their debut in CMP with this futuristic adventure written by Chad Taylor and directed by Marc Forster. Also in the cast we’ll see other young talents with previous experience in CMP: Jay Baruchel, only seen before in the Studio in ‘Based In Real Life’; and Elle Fanning, who was critically acclaimed for her latest work for the Studio: ‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon’. GMA Winner Emma Watson is leading the cast of the film.

THE QUESTION: Let’s go with another debutante in CMP: Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen joins the cast of this film being directed by David Slade with a screenplay written by D.R. Cobb. A veteran in CMP, Sean Bean, last time seen in ‘Mirror’s Edge’, is also in the cast. Zack Snyder is producing this comic adaptation starred by Ryan Gosling.

UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES: It was Season 12 when Steve Connors wrote and Stephen Sommers directed the big screen adaptation of the bestselling console game ‘Uncharted’. This top budget production wasn’t as successful as expected: it only made 69 millions at box office, which meant 54 millions of net gains. Maybe that’s the reason why it has taken Connors so long to adapt the second game of the series. But here it is the sequel at last. Sommers is back behind the cameras and Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel are also back in front of them playing the two lead characters of this story about treasure hunters.

MOUSE GUARD 2: Al Pacino, who is already shooting another Dawson Edwards’ story, ‘The Sheriff, Saloon and the Storm’, has found time to return to this saga, also written by Edwards, to make a voice-only work same way he did in the first movie. Anton Yelchin has also joined the voice-only cast again. Joe Carnahan is directing again this sequel of the successful animated feature based on David Petersen’s comic.


JAMES BRADLEY – ‘EYE OF THE NEEDLE’

His name is usually related to comedies and dramas but, from time to time, he likes to try luck with other genres. After the success he went through past Season with movies like ‘The Show’ – winner of 5 GMAs including Best Picture – ‘Queens’ or ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’, James Bradley releases this week his first film of the Season. He has written and directed a new big screen adaptation of ‘Eye Of The Needle’, one of the most popular bestsellers written by Ken Follett.

1.Why did you decide to make a movie based on a book that has already been taken to the big screen before?

You may believe it or not, but I have never watched the movie. In fact, I discovered it existed when I was already working on my screenplay. It is very frustrating that each time I am working in adaptations I find out at the net that a movie version already exists or it is on its way. It happened to me before with ‘Pride and prejudice and zombies’ and it has happened again with other stories lately. But I decided to go on with my movie anyway. To tell the whole story, my initial plan was adapting other Follett’s book, the recent ‘Fall Of Giants’. But that is a too long story for a movie. Then, thinking on Follett’s works, I remembered ‘Eye Of The Needle’. I read this book something like ten years ago or more and it was very entertaining. So I left ‘Fall Of Giants’ and went for it. And that’s when I discovered that previous movie.

2.Kate Winslet is back in one of your movies. Ralph Fiennes and Kate already worked together out of CMP in ‘The Reader’.

Yes, I know… But they were perfect for the characters and there’s this strong chemistry between them so I decided to have then together again. I love working with Kate. She has this wonderful mix of strength, vulnerability and sex appeal that makes her perfect for almost any kind of character. She automatically came to my mind when I was thinking of this woman living a sad life with her handicapped and embittered husband in that hostile and lonely island. And Ralph Fiennes is simply perfect to play a cold spy that suddenly discovers what passion is with her. I must say that the sexual chemistry between them is amazing and you can notice that on screen.

3.This is the sixth movie you direct. But for the first time, you are not directing a comedy…

I also directed ‘The 6th Avenue Castaways’ and that was a kind of soft drama. Anyway, you know I love comedy but I thought it was about time to try something different as director. The funny thing is that Kate Winslet has been in many of my movies but I had never directed her before. That was one of the main reasons why I decided to direct this one.

4.Past Season, ‘The Show’ became one of the most awarded movies ever in GMA’s history with five statues. How did you feel about that?

My movies have won quite a high number of awards but the truth is that I am still surprised each time that happens. Sometimes I feel a bit strange in CMP. I do not know anything about comics and superheroes and console games. So I just write these little comedies and dramas and I always think that nobody will be interested in then. So when awards come I feel extremely rewarded and grateful. Because it is always a great surprise for me. ‘The Show’ is one of my original stories I feel more proud of. I enjoyed so much writing it and everything went very nicely with it once it was released.

5.A new film written by you and directed again by Jason Reitman has been recently announced. What can you tell us about it?

Remakes of foreign films and books adaptations are recurrent issues for me. I have so much fun imagining how would be the American remake of foreign movies I have enjoyed, like it happened with ‘The Orphanage’ or ‘Son Of The Bride’. ‘Cousins’ is a very fresh and funny Spanish comedy released only a few months ago. As soon as I watched it on theatres I thought on writing a version of it for CMP. And after ‘The Show’ I very much wanted to work with Jason Reitman again. The spirit of the story connects very much with many of my other comedies for CMP. It takes an ironic look at love relationships, something I have done before in quite a few movies.


RALPH FIENNES

For some unknown reason, all CMP’s authors seem to agree in one thing: Ralph Fiennes was born to play villains. Although out of CMP Fiennes has developed a versatile acting career playing all kind of characters, in CMP’s world he has specialized in playing all kind of nasty, devious and disturbing guys. And he has been pretty successful playing them: Fiennes’ filmography in CMP includes one ‘+100’ release and two ‘+200’ releases (this three movies made more than 200 millions of net gains) and only one box office’s flop. Being mean seems to be worthy (and profitable) for him.


CORSAIRS 2: THE SEARCH FOR NANTAYALAH
Joey Stark / Martin Campbell
B.O.: 67 / N.G.: 45
Fiennes made his debut in CMP with this sequel of a successful pirates movie starred by Antonio Banderas and Naomi Watts. It was his first villain in CMP’s world: a cruel British officer decided to capture Banderas. The sequel didn’t work at box office as well as the first movie and that meant the end of this saga.

SATR WARS: BALANCE OF THE FORCE
Lawrence Kasdan / Marcus Trax
B.O.: 91 / N.G.: 25
This was the third episode of Trax’s Star Wars trilogy. And, surprisingly, it didn’t work at box office as well as the two previous movies. Fiennes joined the franchise - of course, playing one of the villains – but only to be part of this slight disappointment.

HF
Michael Bay / Marcus Trax
B.O.: 193 / N.G.: 229
Will Smith and Milla Jovovich were the heroes of the function in this non-stop action flick. Bay’s style at his best. What was doing Fiennes in it? Yes, playing the villain again. The film was the first blockbuster of his CMP’s career.

EDGE OF HUMAN
B.O.: 55 / N.G.: 27
Jonathan Kasdan / Steve Connors
An exception to the rule. Fiennes wasn’t the villain in this movie that resurrected the universe of the classic ‘Blade Runner’. Here, Fiennes played a chief of blade runners. Not a nice guy, but not the villain for once. This very interesting film, produced by Ridley Scott, didn’t work at box office as well as expected but it was an interesting revisitation of the concepts in the original film.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
Danny Boyle / Josh Collins
B.O.: 22 / N.L.: 7
The only box office’s flop in Fiennes’ career in CMP. And an unfair one. This was a beautiful adaptation of the wonderful book by Mark Haddon. Both audiences and critics mistreated this splendid film. In it, Fiennes made a superb work playing the father of the very peculiar kid played by Freddie Highmore. This is a movie to re-watch and fully appreciate.

NEW WORLD: THE REBELLION
Ridley Scott / John Daws
B.O.: 74 / N.G.: 25
Scott, producer of ‘Edge Of Human’, called back Fiennes to join the cast of this top budget sci-fi production. Back to a role of villain for him. Gerard Butler and Keira Knightley were the heroes this time. This very ambitious production didn’t work at box office as expected.

ASSASSIN’S CREED II
B.O.: 224 / N.G.: 224
Peter Jackson / Steve Connors
By now, Fiennes seemed to be already considered in CMP as the perfect talent to play a sinister villain. Connors, with whom he had already worked in ‘Edge Of Human’, chose him to play the mean Pope Alexander VI, main rival of the hero, Colin Farrell. This epic and luxurious production became a big blockbuster. And it meant the only GMA nod so far for Fiennes for Best Villain. He is expected to return in the announced third installment of the franchise.

NEW WORLD II: HEROES OF THE REBELLION
Ridley Scott / John Daws
B.O.: 258 / N.G.: 293
Joining a few CMP’s franchises, Fiennes’ future in the Studio seems to be guaranteed. This sequel finally launched this Daws’ saga. The biggest box office’s success in Fiennes’ career so far. A third installment of the franchise is expected but Daws has not decided to write it by the moment.

REPLICANT REBEL
B.O.: 84 / N.G.: 96
Luc Besson / Steve Connors
Sequel of ‘Edge Of Human’. And it worked better than the original. Fiennes only makes a brief appearance in it. Again, he meets with Ridley Scott, producer of the movie. Steve Connors has stated that there won’t be more movies of this saga.


Eliza Dushku returns to CMP this week with the fourth installment of the violent saga ‘Reform School Girls’. In it, she plays again a tough woman specialized in martial arts. But the guys at ‘Premiere’ magazine think that she is not that tough. And to prove it, this week’s issue of this magazine specialized in CMP’s releases includes a sexy photo session with Eliza where she looks softly sexy. Here’s the cover of the magazine in advance.



First of all, I apologize. Cobb made me notice my mistake in past week’s issue. No, he has not written a screenplay based on ‘Justice League Of America’. He has written a screenplay based on ‘Justice Society Of America’, the first comic series that put together DC Comics’ superheroes in the same story. Direct antecessor of the Justice League. But, besides my mistake with the names, what difference does it make? Some of the members of the Justice League are also members of the Justice Society. So now I wonder how will Cobb match his story with Taylor and Edwards’ films based on the very same characters.

Who said westerns are out of trend? Not in CMP’s world. Dawson Edwards is not the only one interested in revitalizing that classic genre with ‘The Sheriff, Saloon and the Storm’ (by the way, I am really curious to see what hides behind that strange title). Richard Franzwa has also decided to try luck with western. But his approach to the genre seems to be more traditional than Edwards’ film. And the first hint of that is the man Franzwa has chosen to direct his upcoming western: no other than Clint Eastwood himself. I don’t want to sound like a jinx here. But I remind Franzwa that Eastwood has already directed a western in CMP before: ‘Dakota North’. And things didn’t go exactly well at box office that time…

James Bradley keeps suffering the same problem he has had before when working on an adapted story. As he mentions in his interview above, it has repeatedly happened to him that after he begins working in an adaptation he suddenly discovers that there is already a movie based on the same source. Bradley has written a screenplay based on the legend of Pope Joan, the only woman who is said to have become Pope of Rome. He sent the story to Harry Stark. And Stark asked Bradley then if he knew that there already is a recent tv series based on the same legend. Bradley answered that he had no idea of that and he said Stark he could forget about the screenplay if he wanted. But Harry Stark has decided that Bradley’s film is worth to be made and the film will probably see the green light next Season.

There’s another peculiar story I want to tell this week. Soon, CMP will also green light ‘L.A. Wolf’. Yes, it is not a mistake. ‘L.A. Wolf’ was a film written by Josh Collins and starred by Gabriel Macht. It was released some Seasons ago and it made a correct box office. A sequel was also released later but it flopped at box office. Now, Chad Taylor has decided to try a new experience in CMP: making a remake of a CMP’s movie. So he has written a new ‘L.A. Wolf’. The funny thing here is: Taylor’s ‘L.A. Wolf’ has no relationship at all with Collins’ ‘L.A. Wolf’ besides the title. Taylor’s story is not a remake but a completely brand new story with a brand new plot and no link at all with the original film. Strange. And senseless.

And that’s all for this week. I will only mention that the release schedule for Season 18 has been closed. So new screenplays won’t see the light any time before Season 19. And also, the people at CMP is already working in the upcoming 17th GMA’s Ceremony. The rumor is that the beautiful European city of Vienna might be the location of the gala this time. Maybe because CMP is betting for ‘The Paper Man’ as one of the possible main candidates of this upcoming edition? Just a guess.