THE MIDWEEK NEWS # 8

MOVIES RELEASED

1-CATHEDRAL
Adventure
Directed by Peter Weir
Starring Russell Crowe, Merryl Streep, Charlize Theron, Don Cheadle
Box Office: 131 mill.
Net Gains: 172 mill.

CMP Reaction: With an income of 45 mill. only on the DVD market, the success of this movie has taken the Studio by surprise. Nobody expected that such a peculiar story could be so profitable.

2- DEEP SILENCE
Action / Sci-Fi
Directed and Produced by James Cameron
Starring Keanu Reeves, Jessica Alba, Benjamin Bratt, Laurence Fishburne, Eva Mendes
Box Office: 147 mill.
Net Gains: 135 mill.

CMP Reaction: Conceived to become a blockbuster, Cameron’s underwater adventure has not disappointed the Studio expectations. The movie goes directly to the CMP’s 'possible sequels list'.

THE MOVING THUMBS

1-Cathedral

“Beautiful. The story of an obsession becomes a fable about the meaning of life. Russell Crowe plays a really difficult character. He’s not a nice man, but a man decided to sacrifice everything in his search of a crazy dream. But Crowe plays it a way that the character becomes so believable and finally you can’t help loving him”.
-Amy Ratched, ‘Today’

“I must confess I felt elevated while watching this movie. The internal conflicts that Crowe’s character goes through, having to choose between his comfortable life in London and his obsessive adventure in the savannah, made me realize how important is not to forget your dreams”
-Billy Conn, ‘The New York Post’

“An engrossing story. Streep is great as the eccentric and funny nun and Cheadle proves again that he is one of the best actors of his generation. Theron builds up a solid character as the wife split between the love for her husband and the comfortable life she misses. And Crowe simply makes the best work of his career”
-Jack Baxter, ‘Hollywood Reporter’

2-Deep Silence

“So far away from the mastery of Titanic, Terminator or Aliens, Cameron makes a surprising return to moviemaking with this adventure deliberately stepping into the spirit of old B-series movies. That was a more risky bet that it might seem. And the result of it is debatable.”
-Jack Harrison, ‘People’

“Ok, Cameron knows how to shoot underwater scenes. We all know that by now. But, after so many years without directing a movie, he should have tried something different. Jessica Alba looks wonderful in her diving suit. But that’s not enough to make a good movie. More seriously, the movie has great special effects, the mutant creatures are really scary, but I hate that I-ve-seen-this-before feeling…”
-Matt Davies, ‘ET’

“The formula: Abyss x Aliens – Titanic”
Bob Felton, ‘Entertainment Weekly’

AWAITING RELEASE

1-Sam & Twitch

The Cast: John Goodman, Tim Roth, Salma Hayek, James Gandolfini

The Cameos: Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, Kevin Spacey

The Director: Matt Kubrick

The Plot: Sam and Twitch (Roth & Goodman) are partners working for the New York Police department. Best cops in their department maybe in the whole city and they are one of the few clean cops. They are put on the case of a group of suspicious murders all involving mafia family members and finding fingers from the victims. The only clue they are able to find is Udaku. They also uncover a conspiracy inside their own police precinct relating to the mysterious Udaku, a violent criminal organization from Africa. Udaku are murdering Mafia family members in a bid of power to control the city. in one of the issues they even kill a young son of a mafia leader. They've payed off a lot of important people in the city to do what they need to do. When investigating all this, Sam and Twitch will mix with all kind of peculiar people like a corrupted judge payed by Udaku (K.Spacey), a blind and hysterical mafia boss (R. De Niro), an ambitious but clumsy cop that always interfere in their work (B. Willis) and a seductive vamp with inferiority complex (A.Jolie).

The Comment: Matt Kubrick has chosen a film noir based on a saga of popular comic novels for his second movie as director. A different kind of movie that may generate the attraction or the rejection of audiences. A mistery for CMP.

2-The Tempting Diamond

The Cast: Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Donald Sutherland, Alan Alda, Richard Dreyfuss, Tommy Lee Jones.

The Director and Producer: Ivan Reitman

The Plot: Murray has been in jail for the last 15 years convicted of robbery. But, as he recovers freedom, he decides to make true his wildest dream: stealing the most valuable diamond on Earth. To do so, he reunites his old band. Sutherland, a computer genius, completely obsessed with pc games; Alda, who passes the days cheating his mates in a retirement home in no money poker games; and Dreyfuss, who tries to make a living out of horse races betting. It is not easy for Murray to convince them to join him. But, finally, the four of them plan the robbery. The diamond is kept at a museum that is said to be the most safe one, full of sophisticated security measures. And two new problems will get in their way. Jones, the cop that arrested Murray 15 years before, retired now, suspects that something is going on and followes the band continuously, although nobody at the Police believes him. And Sharon Stone, a museum curator and expert in diamonds, for whom Murray will feel immediately attracted. Are they too old for the challenge?

The Comment: After the megahit ‘The Mogulers’, Ivan Reitman is back with this action comedy about an elder band of robbers that looks like an old class reunion. A funny and entertaining story that Murray has defined as ‘Ocean’s 60’. The Studio has big expectations on this solid screenplay with such an appealing cast.



MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

THE AVENGER: The Studio has asked director John Woo to re-edit his movie in order to avoid the R-17 due to the violence in it. First screen tests have offered nice results but all audiences agreed that the movie had excessive and too gratuitous violence.

ROBOTECH 2: While this production goes on, rumours have appeared about Michael Bay abandoning the Robotech saga to take care of another CMP’s franchise. Nothing has been officially confirmed and production goes on under the direction of Tony Scott.

TALES OF THE JEDI: Jackson has announced the first talents hired for this mega project. Jennifer Garner will play the lead character, Orlando Bloom will be her closest friend and Viggo Mortensen will be an experienced Jedi. More names could be made public soon.

DIRTY SANCHEZ: Dennis Hopper has accepted to play the villain of this spoof. He recently said in an interview that he accepted the offer from the Farrelly brothers to join Jack Black and Jennifer Lopez in this movie ‘because it is the dirtiest and most offensive screenplay I have ever read’.

SEPTEMBER’S GONE: Immediate greenlight for this Tom Hank’s project. A drama about a survivor of September 11th attacks that Hanks is going to direct himself.

UNCOMMON VALOUR: Forgotten the bad experience with ‘The Crusades’, Ridley Scott returns to CMP to direct this adventure movie about a frigate captain that will probably be played by Pierce Brosnan (‘The Women Club’). The shooting is said to begin soon.

SPACE QUEST I: THE HEART OF THE CONQUEROR: This other saga conceived by the new CMP’s screenwriter Steve Connors also has a director. Roland Emmerich is the chosen one. No news about the cast have been heard yet.

RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS

It seems like it has all become to a duel between director Wes Craven and writer Matt Kubrick. Kubrick has released a press note in which he says that the decision of moving away Craven from ‘Fear The Darkness 3’ has nothing to do with his work in the two previous movies of the Darkman’s saga but to the will of bringing new and fresh ideas to the franchise. Kubrick points out also his admiration and good relationship with the director. And Craven has answered to it: ‘After reading his excuses, now I do know who had the idea of firing me.” CMP has not made any public statement about this issue.

Steven Spielberg was supposed to produce the new movie from his good friend Tom Hanks, ‘September’s Gone’. But rumours has it that he has rejected to do it cause he wants to concentrate fulltime in developing a concept based on the Indiana Jones movies he could direct for CMP.

Screenplays for some sequels are already in Harry Stark’s desk. ‘Ace Banner 2’ and ‘Bullit 2’ are waiting to be considered by CMP’s President.

Martin Scorsese has recently said that he won’t be directing ‘The Heirs – Part 3’ for the moment. He wants to leave some time between the second and the third movie of his saga so audiences do not get fed up of it. He has confessed he has no idea by now about who could join the cast for this third movie.

RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS SPECIAL: THE GOLDEN MOON AWARDS

Harry Stark is so happy as 14 out of the 24 movies released by CMP have been nominated for the Golden Moon Awards in at least some category. In his opinion, not concentrating all the nominations in just a few movies proves that the quality of most of the Studio’s pictures is pretty high.

The Ignored: Most of the first CMP’s blockbusters have been forgotten by the voters. Successful movies like ‘T.Y.M.’, ‘Bullitt’ or even the megahit ‘The Mogulers’ have been totally ignored in the nominations.

The Ignored – Part 2: Another surprise for the people at CMP has been that both Sean Penn and Robert De Niro have been ignored for best actor award. Although The Heirs saga has received a total of 8 nominations, only Demi Moore and Nicole Kidman have showed their faces in the nominations.

Bets are going on about the winners. According to internal CMP’s sources, and considering the votes for the nominations, it seems like the male categories may have a much more clearer winner than the female categories.

No host has been announced yet for the awards ceremony. Harry Stark wanted Robin Williams to host the gala. But, as he is nominated for best actor, this decision is being reconsidered. Steve Martin has been mentioned as a possible replacement, although he is also nominated, but for a minor award like ‘Best Starring Couple’.

It is said that Halle Berry’s nude back in the ‘Dark – Coming Soon’ add has made wonders in voters for Best Marketing award.

Some other curiosities: Dakota Fanning (‘Fear the Darkness’, ‘Alice In Wonderland’) remains as a CMP’s favourite with her surprising nomination for best actress. Paul Giamatti has two options for being lucky: together with George Clooney for ‘Best Starring Couple’ and all by himself for ‘Best Actor’. Ethan Hawke, a last minute hiring for ‘The Crusades’ replacing Russell Crowe might be rewarded for his quick decision on starring the movie. Same can be said about director Paul Verhoeven. And a last curiosity: why successful comedies such as ‘The Mogulers’, ‘Singles’ or ‘Entertaining Mrs. Sullivan’ do not appeal audiences/voters when it comes to awards recognitions?

VOTE FOR THE GOLDEN MOON AWARDS WINNERS BEFORE DECEMBER 19TH

COMING SOON – THE ADD