THE MIDWEEK NEWS # 6

MOVIES RELEASED

1-THE WOMEN CLUB
Action / Parody
Directed by Mimi Leder
Produced by Sandra Bullock
Starring Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Steve Martin, Pierce Brossnan
Box Office: 164 mill.
Net Gains: 145 mill.

2-VORHEES: THE EARLY YEARS
Horror / Slasher / Drama
Directed by Matt Kubrick
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Amanda Bynes, William H. Macy
Box Office: 89 mill.
Net Gains: 51 mill.

THE MOVING THUMBS

1-The Women Club

“A bit hysterical comedy. A movie made for radical feminists. It only works in certain moments, but most of it results too exaggerated. The starring trio makes a good work but Leder should have controlled their ‘overacting’ as avengers women, too steps beyond desperate housewives and more obsessed with men than the girls from ‘Sex and the City’… if possible.”
-Charlie McGowan, ‘Variety’

“The best of the movie are supporting actors. Steve Martin makes a brilliant parody of the mysterious Charlie from ‘Charlie’s Angels’. And Pierce Brossnan performs an outstanding self-parody as the charming and conceited playboy he’s been playing since the ‘Remington Steel’ times.”
-Ray Winslow, ‘Los Angeles Times’

“As a woman, I didn’t feel identified with any of the female trio. The movie is funny but I wonder if it is a tribute to women or a joke about being a mother, a wife and a working woman in our days. I wasn’t sure if I was laughing ‘with’ them or ‘at’ them”.
-Amy Ratched, ‘Today’

2-Vorhees: The early years

“Here is an undefined story. At some moments, the story looks as the traditional slasher horror movie. But, suddenly, it turns into a kind of tv movie family drama about a mean mother and her handicapped son. A strange mixture that made me feel like new director, Matt Kubrick, wasn’t really sure about the story he wanted to tell us”.
-Jack Baxter, ‘Hollywood Reporter’

“Jason Vorhees has become a poor little boy mistreated by his mean mother. At the end of the movie, I understood and even supported him on his serial killer career. The question is: did the Friday 13th saga need this movie?”
-Andrew Kiggs, ‘Variety’

AWAITING RELEASE

1-The Heirs – Part 2

The Cast: Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Nicole Kidman, Robin Wright-Penn, Leonardo Di Caprio, Michael Douglas, Demi Moore.
The Director: Martin Scorsese
The Plot: The war between Penn and his father, De Niro, to control the mafia family business goes on. After De Niro killed Penn’s partners in the first movie, Penn has subdued again to his father power. But when he sees that the father hasn’t chosen him but his beloved and ambitious nephew (DiCaprio) to be his heir, Penn reacts again. Everything is tougher now as a brilliant FBI agent (Douglas) is doing his best to put De Niro in jail. Meanwhile, Penn sees how Kidman, who used to be his lover, goes on in his relationship with his father. And a new character gets in the middle, a club singer (Moore) that seduces Penn and works as a spy for Douglas. Finally, De Niro and Penn collide again. Penn suffers a murder attempt, ordered by DiCaprio. He survives, but his wife (Robin Wright-Penn) dies accidentally. Penn will blame his father for the death of his wife. His revenge will be murdering his cousin, DiCaprio. After that, an open war begins between father and son.
The Comment: Another chapter of this violent saga. CMP has it as one of its most beloved franchises. The war between father and son has even a touch of Shakespeare translated to the New York mob families of our days. A quality movie considered as a main bet for the Studio.

2-Singles

The Cast: Matthew Perry, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patrick Dempsey, Kirsten Dunst, Vince Vaughn
The Director and Producer: James L. Brooks
The Plot: Perry and Parker play a couple of old college mates that meet again a few years later, just when both have recently divorced and are going through an economic crisis. They decide to share an apartment to save some money. Both are returning to the life of singles. Parker is soon flashed by an extravagant, bohemian and attractive painter (Dempsey), while Perry tries to convince his eccentric ex-wife (Dunst) that their marriage is over while he and his wacky best friend (Vaughn) go back to Saturday binges, with drinks and girls. But, finally, Perry and Parker will realize that there’s something more than friendship between them.
The Comment: A light comedy about relationships looking for a wide audience. Brooks knows how to direct this kind of movies and the cast has been set up with audiences’ favourites. A sure bet for CMP.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

DEEP SILENCE: Keanu Reeves and Jessica Alba will finally be the starring couple of James Cameron’s ‘Deep Silence’. The movie tells the story, written by Tom Figgs, of an underwater scientific station which occupants suffer an strange mutation and become amphibious murderer creatures.

DEAD MAN’S SONG: Kim Bassinger, as a mysterious femme fatale, and Morgan Freeman, playing a jazz musician, join George Clooney in his personal tribute to old gangster movies.

CATHEDRAL: Peter Weir is already filming the movie in natural locations in Africa. The story about a man obsessed with the idea of building a classic gothic cathedral in the middle on the African savannah is starred by Russell Crowe, Merryl Streep and Charlize Theron.

SAM AND TWITCH: Right after his debut as director with ‘Vorhees: The early years’, the very active Matt Kubrick has received green light to direct a movie based on the comic novels about this two peculiar characters. Kubrick has already begun to look for the right actors to play the leading couple of cops.

INDIGO PROPHECY: As Brian Kelley is finishing the editing of his first movie as director, starred by Matt Damon and Kate Beckinsale, and just to warm up its release, here are some screenshots from the computer game it is based in that can give an idea of what could be seen in theatres soon:


RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS: STAR WARS SPECIAL

As everyone in the movie business is talking about the new Star Wars trilogy produced by CMP and expectations are reaching the clouds by now, here is a summary of the very few things that the Studio has officially announced up until now about it:

-The title of the trilogy will be ‘Tales Of The Jedi’. The story will take place hundreds of years before Luke Skywalker times.

-George Lucas won’t have any relationship with these movies. According to an agreement signed between Lucasfilms and CMP, the Studio can produce the trilogy but the Star Wars logo or any mention to Star Wars in the marketing of them will be avoided.

-The story won’t be directly based but it will be inspired in the brilliant Kevin J. Anderson’s books ‘Tales of the Old Jedi’ and all the marketing of the movies will use images created by the original books illustrator, Dave Dorman. CMP’s home writer, Matt Kubrick, has written the first draft of the screenplay for the first movie.

-Casting has not begun yet, but it is known that one of the main characters will be a young female. No director has been confirmed either yet.

-CMP will produce three movies, no matter box office results of the first one. After that, box office will determine the future of this franchise.

CMP IN SEQUELS LAND

Now that CMP is moving to Hollywood Mogul’s v.38, it is a good moment to take a look at the future of the many possible franchises initiated under HM’s v.28. Here is the present situation of the sure ones and the unsure ones:

1-The Sure Things

THE HEIRS – PART 3: Martin Scorsese will have the chance to shoot his third Heirs’ movie no matter Part 2 box office results. If, as it happened in the first one, half of the cast is killed by De Niro’s character in the second one, Scorsese will have to look for new stars to join his usual allstar cast.

ROBOTECH 2: Michael Bay has said yes to this sequel, But Matt Kubrick, screenwriter of the first one, is so busy lately that nobody know when the screenplay will be ready to begin pre-production.

FEAR THE DARKNESS 3: After the nice results of ‘Fear the Darkness’ and ‘The Long Dark Night’ do not hesitate that CMP will bring Darkman back to the screens soon.

CORSAIRS 2: Guess who showed his interest in directing this sequel of Antonio Banderas and Naomi Watts adventures? Easy question. Kubrick again. Although Banderas wants his good friend Martin Campbell to direct the sequel again, CMP may answer to its favourite writer and director’s demands.

2-The Whatabouts

BULLITT: It’s been heard that John McTiernan and Bruce Willis might be interested in shooting a sequel of this one. But it is only a weak rumour by the moment.

T.Y.M. : Low chances of a sequel for one of the first and highest CMP’s blockbusters. Bryan Singer, director, and Tobey Maguire, lead character, have publicly expressed their low interest in retaking the story. In fact, the sequel was greenlighted and already cancelled. But who knows what the future may bring…

ACE BANNER: Critics were so cruel with this ‘shoot ‘em up’ movie. But who rules in Hollywood? Critics or box office results? Expect anything.

THE CRUSADES: Originally, CMP considered it as a trilogy. But production was such a nightmare – change of director, change of cast, shooting in hard locations… - that CMP may feel lazy before greenlightning a second nightmare.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: Why nobody has mentioned anything about a possible sequel of this hit? A superhero, a great box office, a good cast… It’s got it all. But producer Bryan Singer, director Brett Ratner and star Heath Ledger have always kept an intriguing silence about going on with it.

VORHEES: THE EARLY YEARS: Luckily, director Matt Kubrick will be busy enough with all his other projects to remember the chance of getting back to Jason’s stormy teen years.

INDIGO PROPHECY: Box office will have the first word. But it smells a lot like a new possible franchise…

INSIDE CMP

As HM’s v28 is facing its end, everything is ready at CMP for its first Golden Moon Awards. Preliminary vote for nominees will be announced after next Weekend Gazette is released. But, just to warm up, here are the 13 categories:

-Best Picture
-Best Director
-Best Actor
-Best Actress
-Best Starring Couple
-Best Supporting Actor
-Best Supporting Actress
-Best Villain
-Best Cast
-Best Screenplay/ Premise / Concept
-Best Marketing / Poster
-Most Wanted Sequel
-Honorific Award (not subjected to voting)

CMP will host a gala to concede the awards. There will be three nominations for each category and they will be people’s choice as everyone will be invited to vote through Hollywood Mogul’s message board.

COMING SOON – THE ADD