JULY, 8


THE SHERIFF, SALOON AND THE STORM

Western

The Cast: Al Pacino, Bruce Willis, Marion Cotillard, Emile Hirsh, Emma Stone, Steve Buscemi, Joshua Jackson

The Director: Steven Soderbergh
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

The Plot:

In a saloon lie 20 men and 14 women. All dead.

One night before:

People are having a great night in a saloon. Drunken men and a slew of whores will do that. At the bar sits a young man named Christian (E.Hirsh). Christian begs the bartender for a drink. "C'mon Jack, I ain't gonna be t'is young fer long!" The Bartender, Jack (J.Jackson), slides the kid a shot glass but another man grabs it and drinks it. The man reveals himself as Sheriff Douglas (A.Pacino), and says "Not tonight, Christian. Run on home now, there's a storm a brewing." Christian leaves angrily, bumping into drunk patrons and a woman's exposed breasts. Still at the bar, The Bartender tells the Sheriff that he heard about that 'storm' and how it'll likely be here tonight. The Sheriff smirks and explains that if that 'storm' knows anything, he'll keep his whereabouts out of this town. "The last time that storm hit, we hit back."

Walking down from a room upstairs is a beautiful woman (M.Cotillard). The entire saloon stops everything as she walks. She raises her dress a bit to expose more of her thigh. The men downstairs start whistling and the party continues. The woman sits down at the bar next to The Sheriff. "Its mighty kind of ya to join us tonight, Sheriff. Lord knows you must have a lot on yer mind." The Sheriff takes another two drinks. The saloon doors swing open and the Sheriff quickly grabs his revolver and points towards the entrance ready to fire. But at the door stands not a storm, but a girl (E.Stone). "I'm looking fer Sheriff Douglas. Would that be the gentleman pointing that gun at me?" The patrons laugh and continue to party as the girl walks slowly to the bar. She makes eye contact with woman next to Douglas, and smirks.

When the girl sits down she tells the Sheriff that she was instructed to deliver a message to him from Jim Curtis. Douglas says that he doesn't want to hear it. He claims that Curtis is just a breeze in the wind. The beautiful woman next to Douglas introduces herself. "Excuse Sheriff Douglass tonight darlin'. He's had one too many and clearly is not thinking too good. What does Jim Curtis want to say?" The girl opens her mouth, and says "Well..."

We cut to Christian walking home. He sees a shadowy figure off in the distance ahead. The figure slowly limps its way closer and closer to Christian. Getting scared, Christian looks up at the sky and says a prayer. The limping figure comes closer, and Christian sees that it’s his father (S.Buscemi) covered in blood and a shattered knee. “Father!” he screams as he watches the man’s body fall to the ground. He rushes over to hold the almost lifeless man up, just in time to hear his final words.

“The storm’s a coming.”

Cut back to saloon where we see the Sheriff break into a hysterical laughter. He turns around to look at the messenger and tells her that she must be out of her mind. She yells at him that “He said he’ll be here soon and that you all will be dead before the sun rises.” The saloon goes quiet again until the Sheriff laughs again. He stands up and stands over the messenger. He then yells at the already drunk patrons that the next round on him since everyone is going to die anyway. Everyone starts rushing towards the bar. The Sheriff walks back to The Woman and says “Let’s go upstairs and give me a reason to stay alive.” The two of them begin to walk upstairs.

The messenger sits down at the bar looking sad. She asks the bartender why doesn’t the Sheriff take her seriously. The bartender begins to tell her the story of how Jim became The Storm and how this town has been a better place since.

1 Year Prior:

We see the Sheriff walking into the same saloon, only now it’s empty and the sun shines from outside. The bartender pours him a drink and says “Big day huh Sheriff?” The sheriff drinks it, wipes his mouth and slams down his money. He shakes his head in disagreement with the bartender. He looks over his shoulder and we see The Father walking in the saloon. The father asks “She gonna be ready? How long until its time?” but the sheriff says nothing. He pulls out his gun and quickly points it at the head of the father. He twists his head in one direction, making a loud cracking noise. “What we do today is not about time, it is about precision. We are ridding this town of pure evil. Jim Curtis is pure evil.” Church bells start to ring. The Sheriff puts his gun down and begins to walk out. The two men begin walking outside where it appears to be completely empty as well, except we see people peaking from windows and balconies. All of a sudden we hear a gunshot.

The two men instantly pull out their guns but see nothing. Then the echoes of a mad man’s laugh ring loud through the small town. Then emerges a man just down the dirt road. Before Curtis (B.Willis) can put a finger on his gun, we hear a loud gunshot from the distance. Curtis turns around and screams “No!” and runs back where he came from.

Back in the present, we see The Sheriff kissing the neck of The Woman as she pulls down his belt buckle. She tells him to treat me like your last. That makes him immediately stop and tell her to put her shirt back on. The Sheriff looks outside the window and sees a graveyard full of tombstones. He tells The Woman that they did the right thing, and all those tombstones out there remind him of that. “WE did the right thing” he says.

We flashback to see some feet walking down a road towards a lone shack of a house. A pregnant lady comes rushing out of the house with a large spoon pointed at this person. “Go away!” she screams. Then we hear church bells start to ring. We see that the feet belong to The Woman from the saloon, and she’s holding a shotgun. With tears in her eyes she fires the shot and it hits directly into the chest of the lady. The Woman wipes the tears from her eyes and rides off as the church bells continue to ring, passing by a mailbox that reads “Curtis Family”

In the darkness we see Christian walking away from his dead father. His walk becomes a run as he heads back to the saloon. In the slight flicker of a lantern’s light we see the outline of a man walking behind him. Christian makes to the saloon and sits down next to The Messenger and tells the bartender that his father has been killed. The Messenger pours him a glass and says “Drink this, not for your father but tonight you will die a man.” Christian drinks and heads upstairs to see the Sheriff.

He opens the door to see The Sheriff and The Woman in the middle of having sex. He apologizes but then tells the Sheriff that his father has been murdered.

Downstairs, the Messenger is shaking her head watching the whores prance around the drunken men. Then the saloon doors swing open and we see The Storm, Jim Curtis step in. The bar instantly goes quiet and no one moves. Then a man drops his glass on the floor, a woman screams and Curtis puts his hand on his gun. The bartender instantly grabs The Messenger by her shoulders and pulls her over the bar and ducks down. Curtis begins unloading on every man and woman.

The bartender puts his hand over the messengers’ mouth hoping to quiet her scream and calm her down. The gunshots stop and the spur of a footstep is heard. “Where are they Jack? Where’s the cowardly couple that killed my family?” When he gets no answer, The Storm fires a shot to one of the bottles behind the bar, making it smash on the floor next to the Messenger, who screams.

“Now you don’t want me to shoot the messenger do you, Jack? Tell me want I want to hear.”Then the Sheriff comes bursting out of the room upstairs firing all he has at The Storm. The two hit each other in the chest and fall to the ground. In the room upstairs, The Woman peeks outside to see if its all over. She is instantly hit right between the eyes. The Woman falls to the floor and her open eyes permanently stare into the open dead eyes of the Sheriff.

“I don’t murder no children, Jack. So step on out so that messenger don’t get no blood on her pretty little face.” Jack hugs the messenger before standing up. He steps over a few bodies and raises his hands in the air, but before he can plead his case, the Storm, who’s now sitting down at a table, shoots him dead. “No!” screams the messenger as the body hits the ground. Curtis starts walking out of the saloon and back into the darkness.

Morning.

Christian comes walking down stairs to see the carnage left. He sits at the bar and starts to cry as he pours himself a drink. Then the Messenger slowly gets up from behind the bar and pats Christian on the head. The two walk out of the saloon and she says

“It’s going to be okay. The Storm’s over.”


Stark’s Comment:
Westerns usually do not work too well at box office in CMP. I am not confident at all that this one can make a good box office. It is not a question of quality. It is just that the genre is not too popular anymore. And this one has an added problem: it has been rated ‘R’ due to its graphic violence. So I’ll get ready for the worst…

Behind The Scenes:
-Dawson Edwards has built up a cast with talents he has often worked with before. Al Pacino (3 times before), Bruce Willis (1), Marion Cotillard (2), Emma Stone (2), Steve Buscemi (2) and Joshua Jackson (6) have already been in Edwards’ casts.
-Two GMAs winner Emile Hirsh returns to CMP after four Seasons away. His latest CMP’s movie was Clint Eastwood’s ‘A Jazz Tale’.
-Best Director GMA Winner Steven Soderbergh has only directed for CMP before the films ‘Night Cab’ and ‘Things I Forgot To Tell You’.

UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES

Action Adventure

The Cast: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Christoph Waltz, Kelly Brook, Jason Patric, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

The Director: Stephen Sommers
The Screenwriter: Steve Connors

The Plot:

The movie opens in a sudden way. Nathan ‘Nate’ Drake (G.Butler) is hanging off a cliff. His only grip is the end of a train also hanging off. Nate looks down and sees the depth of the cliff. His fingers begin to slip from the grip…

CREDITS

ISTAMBUL, TURKEY

Three shadows get inside a museum of ancient art. They are Natee Drake, Harry Flynn (J.Patric) and Chloe Frazer (K.Brook). The three of them are professional treasure hunters and good all friends. They are there looking for an ancient Mongolian lamp. They have been hired by millionaire Zoran Lazarevic (C.Waltz) for the job. Lazarevic thinks that the lamp contains inside a map showing where the legendary Cintamani Stone, part of Marco Polo’s treasure, was hidden after a tsunami sunk most of Marco Polo’s fleet.

They find the lamp and open it. And yes, there’s a map inside. According to it, the stone is at Shambhala, Nepal. But it is unknown where the ancient city of Shambhala is exactly located.

Flynn takes the map with him and leaves the lamp. They are ready to leave the museum through a window. Chloe leaves first. Then Flynn leaves. But when Nate is about to follow them, the lights of the museum turn on and guards show up from everywhere. Last thing Flynn says to Nate before leaving him alone is: ‘Sorry, folk. The pay was not enough for the three of us…’ Nate is captured by the guards.

Three months later

Nate is sleeping at the Turkish prison he has been imprisoned. A hand shakes his body. Nate wakes up and to his surprises he sees there Chloe and his good old friend Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan (J.D.Morgan). They have come to release him.

They escape from the prison. Once outside, Chloe tells Nate that she didn’t know about Flynn’s treachery. When she saw what happened, she called Sully to help her to release him from prison. Chloe tells Nate that Flynn and Lazarevic have travelled to Borneo looking for the Cintamani Stone. Chloe is still working with them. Chloe tells him that she has also discovered that Lazarevic, supposed to be only a Russian business man obsessed with ancient art, is also a war criminal widely thought to be dead.

Nate and Sully decide them to fly to Borneo to look for the stone too.

BORNEO

With the help of Chloe working within Lazarevic’s camp as a mole, Nate and Sully discover that Marco Polo’s lost fleet never actually possessed the Cintamani Stone. Also, Chloe tells them the location of a tomb found by Lazarevic where Polo’s passengers from the lost fleet were buried. Among dozens of mummified bodies, they find a box that contains a Tibetan dagger with strange symbols and a parchment with a temple drawing and a text: ‘Pokhara, Nepal’.

Flynn and his men appear at the tomb. Nate and Sully run away and they chase them through a forest. Finally, Nate and Sully get to escape from them making a spectacular jump off a cliff and into a river.

Once safe, Sully tells Nate that he is beginning to feel too old for that kind of thrills and that he won’t go on with the adventure. Nate understands it and tells his friend that he will fly to Nepal by himself then.

POKHARA, NEPAL

Nate arrives to Pokhara finding the city in the midst of a war as Lazarevic ravages the city looking for the temple where the Cintamani Stone is supposed to be.

Nate and Chloe meet secretly. They surmise that the temple they are looking for would also be adorned with the same symbols that the Tibetan dagger Nate found at the Borneo’s tomb. They walk all over the city looking for those symbols at the entrance of one of the many temples of the city.

While walking through the streets, Nate and Chloe meet journalist Elena Fisher (J.Biel) and her cameraman Jeff, who are there tracking down Lazarevic to find proof to show to the public that he is in fact still alive. Nate invites them to join Chloe and him in their search of the temple.

They finally find the temple. A painting in a wall shows the Cintamani Stone and a map of the sacred ancient city of Shambhala locating it in the Himalayas.

Just as they are about to leave the temple, Flynn and his men show up. There is a exchange of shots. Jeff, the cameraman, is shot in the gunfire and dies. Finally, Chloe has to pull her gun on Nate to protect her ‘cover’.

Nate and Elena are taken to Lazarevic’s camp as prisoners. Lazarevic takes the dagger from Nate. Then, Lazarevic leaves the camp with Chloe to take a train for the Tibet after ordering Flynn to execute them. Nobody notices that before leaving Chloe has freed Nate from the rope tying his wrists.

Nate and Elena fight Flynn and his men and manage to escape. They rush to the train yard. Nate gets to board the leaving train while Elena can’t and she’s left behind.

After a few hours travelling, Lazarevic’s men discover Nate at the train right after he has stolen the dagger from Lazarevic’s suitcase. Trying to escape from them, Nate climbs to the train’s roof. He jumps from one rail car to the next with the added danger of several tunnels. But finally he is shot by one of the men. With no other option, Nate shoots a pile of propone tanks to get rid of the men.

There’s a big explosion. The train derails. Nate falls and he ends up hanging on the steep cliff. That’s how the movie began…

Finally, Nate falls down the cliff. Snow softens the impact and Nate ends up lying unconscious on the snow.

TIBET

When Nate opens his eyes again, he is lying on a cot inside a house.

To his surprise, Elena is there too. She tells Nate that he has been unconscious for nearly 24 hours. She arrived to the village where they are in another train hours later. Asking for him, the people from the village told her where he was. The people found him lying on the snow and rescued him.

Elena introduces Nate to a 90 years-old German man named Karl Schäfer. Schäfer tells Nate his story: he was a member of the SS sent with an expedition to find Shambhala by Hitler himself. When Schäfer, an arquelogist but not a Nazi, discovered the secret powers of the Cintamani Stone, he decided to kill all the members of the expedition to protect the world of the power of the stone and stayed hidden at that village for the rest of his life. Schäfer explains Nate and Elena that the stone has the power to turn its owner invincible. He says that he will only help them to find the stone if they promise they will destroy it if they find it. Nate accepts the deal.

Schäfer tells Nate that the key to find the stone is the dagger. Schäfer never found the stone because he never had the dagger. Schäffer shows Nate and Elena the way to the stone.

So Nate and Elena travel through a series of ice caves that lead them to an ancient monastery. Same moment they find the monastery, Lazarevic and his men, including Flynn and Chloe, show up. Lazarevic had seen them leaving Schäfer’s home so he captured Schäfer and forced him to tell him where they were. Then he shot and killed Schäfer.

With Nate and Elena prisoners again, the whole group gets into the monastery. Lazarevic takes the dagger from Nate and uses it to open a secret passage to the secret city of Shambhala.

When the gate opens the group is surprisingly attacked by an horde of strange monsters from the ice caves. The group soon realizes that those yeti-like creatures are in fact human guardians of Shambhala, powered by the Cintamani stone and dressed like monsters to scare off anyone who trespass the city.

While Lazarevic and his men fight with the guardians, Nate and Elena escape and run inside the passage. Chloe follows them. And the three of them find at last the Cintamani Stone. The stone is in fact a giant amber of petrified blue resin embedded in a giant Tree of Life.

When they try to escape from the fight between the yeti-like men and Lazarevic’s men, Flynn shows up. He is holding a grenade in his hand. He is about to throw it to them when he falls to the ground and they see a lance plunged into his back. He is dead.

But the grenade detonates in his hand, seriously wounding Elena. Nate leaves Elena in Chloe's care and sets off to confront Lazarevic at the tree. Nate arrives just as Lazarevic drinks the tree's sap, which heals his scars and renders him nearly indestructible. Detonating the pockets of explosive resin in the tree, Nate defeats Lazarevic and leaves him to be killed by the guardians. Nate reunites with Chloe and Elena and they escape the city as a series of explosions begins to destroy Shambhala.

Finally safe at the village, the people there take care of Elena. Chloe and Nat have some time to talk. Chloe asks Nate if he loves Elena. Nate says he does. Chloe leaves the village the next morning while Nate stays there to wait for Elena as she needs some days to recover.

The movie ends with Elena and Nate paying their respects at Schäfer's grave before embracing. They share a kiss and together they walk over to the edge of a cliff and watch the sun set behind the mountains.


Stark’s Comment:
This is the typical movie to make a splendid box office without major problems. It has it all to be a big blockbuster. But the truth is that the first ‘Uncharted’ movie only made 69 million … I hope this is one of those franchises that finally takes off with the sequel, as it has happened some times before in CMP.

Behind The Scenes:
-The budget of this movie has been extremely high at it was shot in locations in India, Nepal and Turkey and that increased very much production costs.
-Butler, Biel and Morgan are the only members of the cast that return from the first movie.
-Stephen Sommers had not worked for CMP again since he directed ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’. He had directed before ‘London Underground’, ‘The Legend Of Zelda II’ and ‘Fallout 2’.

MAN OF SEA

Drama / Adventure

The Cast: Jim Carrey, Robin Wright-Penn, Max Records

The Director: Spike Jonze
The Screenwriter: Chad Taylor

The Plot:

He told himself he wasn't going to pursue love, unless the feeling was there. And just as the feeling came, it went. Fred (J.Carrey) didn't need love for him to find happiness. He was a writer, and jotting down his thoughts is what made him happy. But lately he could only write down haunting thoughts. He only had haunting thoughts.

Days earlier, while driving his wife Pamela (R.Wright) to her work, he got a phone call in the middle of their conversation. He answered it, which angered her. She yelled at him and told him to hang up, but he yelled back, taking his eyes off the road. He slid near the other lane and the car coming the opposite way had no time to stop. The cars collided, rolled, and Pamela died instantly.

It was the start of a new life for Fred. Well actually, not yet. He had a small kid at home, Fred Jr. (M.Records). He was as cute as a button and just beginning to fully understand the world. But Fred couldn't take it anymore. They had been married for two years. He picked very carefully who he would love, and now he lost her. So he left Fred Jr. with his sister Amanda and decided to do something new.

In order to find inspiration, he sets sail. We see his attempts to write a book over the tragedy, but he just cannot. Along the way, Fred finds a new love…the ocean. The sceneries, the sounds, and the way it serenades him at night. But when the storms become bad, he starts to grow worried that his love will end up like all the times. He has flashbacks of Pamela on his trip. He grows delusional and she appears on the boat, telling him to go visit Fred Jr.

He listens to her, but becomes lost in the sea. At was at first a joy, Fred now must come to terms with the reality of nature. And all the while, comes to terms with his mid-life crisis. He starts to use memory to get him back on path to where he belongs. Nature makes him notice that life can be good or it can be bad, but it’s always a process. In the final moments of the film, Fred comes in contact with a shark. He must fend it off from his boat which is hard for one man to do. After that, he waits out the bad storm, in order to find, and make it home to his boy.


Stark’s Comment:
A pretty artsy and conceptual film. It is not easy to expect a big box office from a movie very much focused on a single man in a boat. It will be almost a miracle if we save this one from net losses.

Behind The Scenes:
-Robert Zemeckis got involved in the pre-production of this movie. But he finally decided not to direct it. It was Jim Carrey personally who proposed them Spike Jonze as director.
-Spike Jonze has only directed before for CMP the critically acclaimed ‘Asterios Polyp’. This film flopped at box office.
-The last time Carrey worked for CMP was the successful David Zucker’s comedy ‘Bond Scum’. He won a Best Starring Couple GMA with Claire Danes for ‘Carousel’.
-Robin Wright’s latest CMP’s film was ‘In Spirit’.
-Max Records made his debut in CMP only a few weeks ago with Josh Collins’ ‘Board Breaker’.


GREEN ARROW: YEAR ONE: Another DC Comics’ superhero showing up in CMP. Yes, there are still some of them left. The chosen one now is Green Arrow. Christopher Nolan, the man behind CMP’s Justice League movies, returns to the world of superheroes, this time only as producer of the movie. South African director Wayne Kramer is the one to be moving the cameras. And D.R.Cobb is the author of the screenplay. And the star chosen to play Oliver Queen / Green Arrow is the CMP’s rising star Garrett Hedlund. Hedlund succeeded past Season with ‘Kite’ and it is said that he will be having a busy Season 18 starring not only this one but also other upcoming CMP’s productions.

JUST THERE: Logan Lerman won the Best Actor GMA in Season 12 with Matt Kubrick’s teen drama ‘Teenage Wasteland’. Since this controversial triumph, he completely disappeared from the CMP’s scene. It has taken him six Seasons to return. Now, he will be playing a supporting role in this new teen drama written and directed by Trent Nielsen and starred by Liam Aiken and Dakota Fanning. Also in the film, we’ll see Reece Thompson, who already worked with Nielsen in the failed ‘Out Partying’.

THE GOONIES II: CMP has already announced who the new Goonies are going to be, led by Chloe Moretz. But also some of the original Goonies will show up at this sequel co-written by Joey Stark and D.R.Cobb, directed by Matt Kubrick and produced by Steven Spielberg. Coming out from the past, the now grown-up Goonies will be Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Martha Plimpton and Corey Feldman. Except for Brolin, the rest of them make their debut in CMP with this film.

FIRST FLIGHT: Tyrese Gibson, last time seen in CMP in ‘Silver Sable and the Ultimate Alliance’, and Ian McShane, seen in CMP in movies like ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ and ‘Legends Of The West’, join the cast of this JJ Abrams’ sci-fi adventure. Ben Goldey will be making his debut as screenwriter in CMP with this story that takes place mainly in a spaceship.

THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY: As it has been repeatedly said, this new Ben Tyler’s movie is inspired by the classic rock album of the same title from Genesis. And if that wasn’t clear enough, Tyler has decided to pay tribute to the band offering an appearance in the film to all the former members of Genesis like Mike Rutherford., Tony Banks or Steve Hackett. And that includes too the two most renown members of the band, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins.

FRONTIER: Joel and Ethan Coen return to CMP with this new Chad Taylor’s story. The Coen Brothers have focused mainly on acid comedies in CMP like ‘Cell Mates’, ‘The Awful Truth’ or ‘A Tangled Web’. But this time they will tell a more dramatic story about family relationships. Silver Lining Entertainment is producing the film.

COUSINS: James Bradley and Jason Reritman have reunited again after their successful collaboration in the Best Picture GMA Winner ‘The Show’ to make this American remake of a Spanish comedy about three cousins returning to their hometown after some years away. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jon Heder and Dane Cook are playing the cousins. But the cast also includes Rachel McAdams, not seen in CMP since ‘That’s The Way’, playing an old Gordon-Levitt’s teen love, and no other than Bill Murray, seen past Season in ‘Midnight’, playing here an alcoholic man trying to rebuild his life.

DOG DAYS: Steve Connors has made a peculiar move with this console game adaptation. He has adapted this time the game ‘Kane & Lynch: Dog Days’. The peculiarity here is that he is adapting the second game of the series and not the first one. To direct this non-stop action flick, Connors has chosen Simon West, who will make his debut in CMP with the film. And the starring couple will be played by Jason Statham, not seen in CMP since ‘Star Wars: Holocron Initiative’, and Billy Bob Thornton, who already worked with Connors before in another game adaptation: ‘Mirror’s Edge’. West and Statham have worked together before out of CMP in ‘The Mechanic’.

THIS FAR FROM HEAVEN: Richard Franzwa has chosen a very appealing starring trio for this western that might mean his last work as screenwriter for CMP. Russell Crowe, seen past Season in ‘Kite’, will play a gunfighter facing an attack from Arapahoes in a U.S. Army fort. There, he will meet and try to protect Diane Lane, not seen in CMP since ‘The Mistaken’, and her niece played by Saoirse Ronan, whose latest work for the Studio was ‘Replicant Rebel’. Clint Eastwood is directing the film.

L.A. WOLF: The young Nicholas Hoult returns to CMP after his debut in ‘Sunshine On Lonely Street’ with this action thriller written and directed by Chad Taylor. James Cromwell, who already worked with Taylor in the drama ‘Daniel’, will also be seen in the film. And the veteran Richard Jenkins will make his CMP’s debut in it.


STEVE CONNORS
'UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES'

Steve Connors keeps adapting console games with ‘Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ and this week’s greenlighted project ‘Dog Days’. Past week, one of his latest games’ adaptations, ‘Heavy Rain’, succeeded at the GMA winning two statues. We have talked about all this with him.

1.It has taken you some time to develop the sequel of ‘Uncharted’. Why?

The first movie wasn’t as successful as I expected so I felt a bit lazy about developing this sequel. It is more motivating to concentrate on a sequel when the original movie has made a good box office. Anyway, I thought that this was a classic adventure concept I liked very much so here it is at last. I just hope it works better at box office than the first film.

2.Do you still have fun adapting games?

Shouldn’t I? Well, I try to mix original stories like ‘Fantasy World’ or ‘The Revengers’ with all these games’ adaptations. When you work on an adaptation, you get so much into it that at the end you feel it as if it was your own idea. I spent weeks working on the screenplays of films like ‘Heavy Rain’ or the two ‘Blade Runner’ movies. I worked so hard on those that at the end I had forgotten it wasn’t me who invented the whole stories… I must say I don’t feel less author of the story just because it is an adaptation.

3.Were you surprised when ‘Heavy Rain’ won two statues at the recent GMA ceremony?

Sure I was! I thought Toni Collette had big chances. But it was a wonderful surprise to win the Best Adaptation award. Most of my movies are adaptations so that award very much fits with my work. GMA are so much fun… specially if one of your movies wins!

4.This week, CMP has greenlighted ‘Dog Days’, based on the second game of ‘Kane & Lynch’. Why have you adapted the second game of the series instead of the first one?

Easy. When I began considering making a movie about Kane and Lynch, I found at IMDB that there is already going on a movie based on the first game. It is starred by Bruce Willis and Jamie Foxx. So I decided to adapt the second game of the series. As always, I have made some changes on the original plot of the game. I want it to be a big action show. I think it is the most violent story I have written.

5.What other stories are you currently working on?

I have already written ‘Assassin’s Creed III’. I love that saga. This third movie will be a mix between an adaptation (based on ‘Assassin’s Creed: The Brotherhood’) and my own original ideas for the story. Also, I have written a new movie for Steve Carell. After the amazing success of ‘The Undercovers’, I want to keep working with him. This is an original story. It’s a romantic comedy, a new genre for me. But I won’t say anything else about it for the moment.


FROM THE SET OF ‘THE GOONIES II’
VIDEO LOG. PART 2
By Matt Kubrick

Well hello friendly viewers it is I Matt Kubrick director of The Goonies 2! right now we are standing in a car dealership you can see many rows of cars outside also you can see the highway, this car lot was actually built for the movie we rented some space and set it up for the shoot that is a real highway out there! this will all be torn down once the movie is over with. This place will play a role in the movie and is owned by some of the characters. You will see!

After a quick cut in the video the viewers will see Matt Kubrick standing outside of a big stage, I open the door as if inviting the viewers in but then close it suddenly smiling.

Ok fans of the first movie I know you would love to see what is in there. Trust me, if you loved the first movie you will be super excited about it but guess what? I'm not going to show you! but there is a big set in there and let me tell you everyone was giddy to be on the set it was like going back to the 1980s again.

There is another quick cut and the viewers will see some footage of Chloe Moretz and Callan McAuliffe are reading their lines on a football field. There is footage of the original actors Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Martha Plimpton and Corey Feldman as they are having their pictures taken for magazine ads. There is also footage of new and old cast members getting their pictures taken all together.

The video ends with still rolling.....see you at the movies!


EMILE HIRSH

Although he has never worked in any CMP’s blockbuster, a few Seasons ago Emile Hirsh had become the most successful young star in CMP. He had been cast in some of the most acclaimed CMP’s productions of the moment. He had also become a regular at the Golden Moon Awards. Hirsh was by then the undisputable ‘star of the moment’ even though his movies kept making low box office’s numbers. But it is not easy to keep the status that high. After rejecting some job offers he didn’t consider interesting enough – i.e.: the lead role in ‘Mega Man’ -, he has finally decided to return to CMP playing a minor role in this week’s release ‘The Sheriff, Saloon and the Storm’. And it is expected to see him again in other projects this very same Season. So the talented Hirsh is finally back to the Studio and that’s a good reason to look back at his CMP’s filmography.

BLOOD BEACH
Eli Roth / Matt Kubrick
B.O.: 12 / N.L.: 11
Hirsh made his CMP’s debut in what is still remembered as one of the lousiest movies ever produced by the Studio: a horror flick mixing sexy chicks and a serial killer. The kind of debut to kill an acting career from its very beginning. But Hirsh survived to the experience. In fact, this is the only box office’s flop in his CMP’s career.

WHEN DREAMS DIE
Sam Mendes / Richard Franzwa
B.O.: 35 / N.G.: 17
Trying to make people forget his work in ‘Blood Beach’, Hirsh accepted to play a minor role in this teen drama starred by Haley Joel Osment. He met in it again with Ellen Page, also seen in ‘Blood Beach’. The movie wasn’t a box office’s hit but at least it worked decently enough.

DARE TO BE PERFECT
Dayton and Faris / Josh Collins
B.O.: 33 / N.G.: 1
This acid comedy focused on a dysfunctional family was the first time that critics put their eyes on Hirsh’s acting talent. The film hardly survived to net losses but Hirsh’s work called critics’ attention for the first time.

WEIGH ANCHOR
Peter Weir / Josh Collins
B.O.: 38 / N.G.: 28
The pattern of Hirsh’s career in CMP was definitely settled with this movie: solid acting works in quality and prestigious movies that never get to succeed much at box office. ‘Weigh Anchor’ was an excellent drama starred by a CMP’s debutante Joseph Gordon-Levitt (he won the Best Actor GMA for his work in this film).

WILD CARDS: ORIGINS
Matt Kubrick / Matt Kubrick
As a curiosity, Hirsh’s voice could be heard in this animation film that explained the origins of the Wild Cards’ universe. This film was released directly on DVD as part of a DVD Box dedicated to this iconic CMP’s saga.

THE BEATLES
Sam Mendes / Chad Taylor
B.O.: 38 / N.G.: 9
Sam Mendes and Emile met again after ‘When Dreams Die’ in this brilliant biopic of the Beatles. Hirsh was Ringo Starr. The film didn’t work at box office as expected. But it was a definite step forward in Hirsh’s career in the Studio. With it, Hirsh finally jumped into the A-list of young stars in CMP’s world.

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
Jodie Foster / Joey Stark
B.O.: 25 / N.G.: 0.8
First of the three consecutive times Hirsh and Joey Stark worked together. This film told the love story between a mature teacher (Michelle Pfeiffer) and one of her students, played by Hirsh. The film meant the first leading role for Hirsh in CMP and also his first GMA nomination: Pfeiffer and Hirsh were nominated for the Best Starring Couple award.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY
Steven Spielberg / Joey Stark
B.O.: 41 / N.G.: 6
…and then came the big opportunity for Hirsh. Stark and Spielberg chose him and Jamie Bell (one of his cast mates in ‘The Beatles’) as the starring couple of this ambitious story about two comic authors during the Golden Age of comics. Again, box office turned its back to Hirsh. But the movie became a critical success and the most awarded movie ever at the Golden Moon Awards with 6 statues. That included two awards for Hirsh himself: Best Actor and Best Starring Couple, together with Bell. Hirsh directly became the biggest star of the moment at CMP’s world with this movie.

A JAZZ TALE
Clint Eastwood / Joey Stark
B.O.: 29 / N.G.: 6
Only one Season after the big personal success of ‘Kavalier and Clay’, Joey Stark chose again Hirsh to lead the allstars cast of this big production that recreated the golden days of mafia and jazz in Chicago. The pattern was back: critical success but poor box office and even poorer net gains. Hirsh got another GMA nod for Best Actor and his prestige in CMP went up till the stars. After this movie, he became so selective choosing his works that he rejected a few offers and did not show up in any CMP’s film for four Seasons. Now, he’s back betting again for a prestige work with ‘The Sheriff, Saloon and The Storm’.


French actress Marion Cotillard returns to CMP this week with the western ‘The Sheriff, Saloon and The Storm’, directed by Steven Soderbergh. And ‘Premiere’ magazine celebrates this return taking her to the cover of this week’s issue.



What can I say about the latest GMA Edition? As usual, I agree with some of the voters’ choices and I very much disagree with others. But who cares about my opinion? It is as useless as the presumably wise (and frequently wrong) predictions of my respected (ahem…) colleague Charlie Kiggs.

Anyway, hero goes my considerations about this Edition…

‘Eye Of The Needle’ joins the selected club of the 5 awards winners together with films like ‘Carousel’, ‘A Farewell To Arms’ and ‘The Show’. Excellent achievement for ‘Eye Of The Needle’, a very classic spy movie that I personally didn’t find as impressive as GMA’s voters did. It was an entertaining and well made film. But I would never consider it one of the four or five best movies ever developed by CMP.

Anyway, the night wasn’t a bed of roses for Bradley’s film. Yes, ‘Eye Of The Needle’ reached the 5 awards. But at the end it didn’t make it at three of the main categories: Actor, Actress and Director. Finally, the Best Picture award saved it from a bittersweet night. And Bradley has been confirmed again as a voters’ favorite, winning 5 statues (including both the Best Screenplay and Best Picture awards) for two consecutive Editions with this one and ‘The Show’.

Things weren’t that happy for ‘Alabama’ and ‘American Way’. Nobody saved these ones from going through a bitter night. The 7 nominations of ‘Alabama’ finally turned into one single award. And the 4 nominations of ‘American Way’ did not turn into any award in a night where almost each movie nominee got at least a small piece of the cake. These were the two punished films of the night, while ‘Heavy Rain’ unexpectedly became the second most awarded movie of this Edition, although winning only 2 statues.

No complaints about the triumph of both Toni Collette and Colin Firth at the supporting acting categories. Very much deserved in both cases. But I am not that happy about January Jones’ victory. I know we are all tired of watching Kate Winslet and Natalie Portman being nominated once and again but I honestly think their works were much better than Jones’. I don’t understand very well either the triumph of Paul Greengrass with ‘Kite’. I loved the movie but I don’t think that his directional job was that special. Maybe it is true something Kiggs wrote at his predictions: GMA’s voters are a bit reluctant to vote for CMP’s writers at the Best Director category. Nomination seems to be enough for them when directing.

Ralph Fiennes had a sweet night with two awards but he didn’t make it either at the Best Actor category. John Turturro was a more than deserved winner. I am just sorry Will Smith didn’t win the Best Starring Couple award. It was the joke of the night but I also agree with everyone that it was unfair ignoring Smith for both Best Actor and Best Director.

And finally ‘The Question’ did not become the big surprise of the night. I feared that could have happened. Honestly, I like the movie but I think it was a bit overvalued by voters when choosing it for a Best Picture nod. The Most Wanted Sequel award is reward enough for this quality superhero movie. More than that would have been an exaggeration.

And I end up confirming a rumor: yes, the man drinking too much at the afterwards party was Joey Stark. He still can’t understand why his beloved ‘The Paper Man’ only got two nominations and not a single award. The youngest Stark brother is still convinced that he wrote and directed something like the masterpiece film of our times. Voters proved him how wrong he is… *evil laugh*.