APRIL, 12

MOVIES RELEASED

1-ROBOTECH 3

Anime
Directed and Produced by Michael Bay
Starring voices Heath Ledger, Antonio Banderas, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Donald Sutherland
Box Office: 85 mill.
Net Gains: 74 mill.

CMP Reaction: Although not as successful as the two previous Robotech movies, still a great breakdown. A most profitable franchise that will go on in the future.

2-THE CURE

Action / Thriller
Directed by Doug Liman
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jodie Foster, Robert Redford, Natalie Portman, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti, Laurence Fishburne

Box Office: 31 mill.
Net Loss: 11 mill.

CMP Reaction: No-one at the Studio can find a reason why this movie wasn’t a major hit. Shocking. It had it all.

THE THUMBS AND THE STARS

1-ROBOTECH 3

“Robotech is always a sure bet. It has a legion of fans that will pay for a ticket any time that Michael Bay decides to release a new episode. Screenwriter Matt Kubrick promised no less than six Robotech’s movies. And, if things keep going this way, be sure we’ll have the six of them”
-Roy Winslow, ‘The Critics Corner’

“What is the secret of the success for this saga? No idea. I just suppose there is a generation of young viewers out there that just love anime and are willing to watch it on the big screen. I’m getting too old to appreciate that, but that’s only my fault”.
-Jack Carter, ‘The Critics Corner’

“Bay has created again an outstanding visual show. Robotech’s movies are hypnotizing. Bay knows how to apply his personal directing style to an anime movie and the result is even better than when he makes live action movies. Again, a great popcorn show to watch, enjoy… and remember”
-Jake Harrington, ‘The Critics Corner’

2-THE CURE

“A brilliant thriller. Doug Liman, director of the first Bourne movie, proves again that he knows how to make an adult thriller, far away from cheap effectism and based on a solid plot. Yes, he also made that violence show, ‘Ace Banner’, but now he’s back on track of what a talented movie director must do.”
-Anne Roman, ‘The Critics Corner’

“I won’t give an answer to why this movie has flopped. And just because I don’t have it. It has a great suspense pace, an appealing cast and a brilliant direction. But maybe it is too adult. Hollywood does not make movies like this too often. It does not abuse of pyro-technics and FXs. It prefers to sustain on solid performances and a twisting intelligent plot. And that’s good for Cinema, but it’s bad for box office”
-Tom Johnston, ‘The Critics Corner’

“Although the plot is a bit unbelievable in some moments, here is a worthy action thriller. If you miss it on the screen, wait for the DVD release and give another chance to this one”.
-Charlie Kiggs, ‘The Critics Corner’

AWAITING RELEASE

1-THE HEIRS – PART 3

The Cast: Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman, Michael Douglas, Charlize Theron

The Director and Producer: Martin Scorsese

The Plot: DeNiro and Penn go on with their father and son rivalry. After the accidental murder of Penn’s wife, his life keeps falling down. He has initiated a new – and destructive – relationship with a model (C. Theron) and is immersed in a spiral of drug abuse. Obsessed with the wrong idea that it was his father who ordered the murder of his wife, he offers FBI inspector M. Douglas to collaborate with him to finally put his father in jail. Meanwhile, his father’s lover, N.Kidman, Penn’s true love, tries to help him to quit drugs although rejects him as lover.
When Douglas finally considers that he has evidences enough to convict DeNiro, he arrests him and take him to court.
Kidman discovers that Theron is in fact an undercover FBI agent investigating Penn. When she tells Penn, he regrets of helping Douglas against his father. He visits DeNiro in jail and they talk. DeNiro explains him that he didn’t order to kill his wife. DeNiro tells him he is his son and he loves him no matter all the past.
Penn, desperate, feels guilty for betraying his father. He tries to fix things but he can’t control himself.
Penn kills Theron. Then, he tries to kill Douglas, but Douglas shoots first and kills him.
At the end, DeNiro is convicted and Kidman brings flowers to Penn’s grave. It’s the end of the most powerful mob’s family.

The Comment: Finale episode of the mob’s saga. Drama, violence and family conflicts are back. Expected to become a CMP’s classic, together with the two previous episodes.


2-ULTRAMAN’S REVENGE

The Cast: Eddie Murphy, Beyonce Knowles, Will Farrell, Pamela Anderson, Martin Lawrence

The Director: Harold Ramis
The Producer: Eddie Murphy

The Plot: Julius Tyrannis (W. Ferrell), a maniac millionaire, wants to rule the world. And his only obstacle is the most popular superhero: Ultraman (E.Murphy). So he kidnaps Ultraman’s girlfriend Lilly (B.Knowles) to blackmail him. Ultraman starts to do everything wrong in his heroic actions and NYC becomes a mess because of him. So mad with him, Rulan (P.Anderson), president of the Crypton Super Heros Corporation, comes to Planet Earth to see what’s going on. Another superhero, Metroman (M.Lawrence), old rival of Ultraman at the Crypton Super Heros Academy, comes with her on support. Metroman will fix all the Ultraman disasters. Meanwhile, Tyrannis plans to destroy Planet Crypton to end up with all the superheros. When Ultraman discovers that, he finally reacts. Ultraman will save Crypton, Planet Earth and his girlfriend Lilly. And he will also discover that Metroman was in fact an accomplice of Tyrannis, who promised him he would be the new CSHC President if he ruled the world. Ultraman will be the most beloved Super Hero again and Rulan will award him with the Golden Crypton Legion.

The Comment: ‘The Return Of Ultraman’ made a box office of 52 mill. That was reason enough to greenlight this sequel that will again make a parody of all superheroes’ movies. One of those sequels that are expected to make even more money than the previous picture.


THE STAR PROFILE – THE HEIRS TRILOGY

Martin Scorsese has described his trilogy as ‘a mob’s saga with a touch of Shakespeare’s drama’. The story of a war between a powerful father and his ambitious son has become one of the most prestigious sagas for CMP. Retaking elements from all the classic mafia pictures, like ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Goodfellas’, Scorsese has created an epic story of jealousy, power, murder and betrayal. Very profitable for the Studio, by the way.

THE HEIRS (B.O.: 158 mill.): Dad De Niro didn’t feel old enough to retire yet. But his kid Penn and his two best friends, Colin Farrell and Christian Bale, thought he was. So the trio tried to took control of the family business. And Penn, although married to the darling Robin Wright, also tried to take dad’s lover, Nicole Kidman, whose heart was split between father and son. Finally, they got so annoying that DeNiro took the easy way out. He decided to give a lesson to his son by killing Bale and Farrell. Penn lost his friends, his lover and the chance to be the heir of his father’s business. The movie won the GMA for Best Director (M.Scorsese) and Best Actress (N.Kidman) and was also nominee for Most Wanted Sequel, Screenplay and Best Picture.

THE HEIRS – PART 2 (B.O.: 303 mill.): Things are not getting better between father and son. So De Niro has turned his eyes to his ambitious nephew, Leo DiCaprio, as his new right hand. And things are getting worse as Michael Douglas, an FBI investigator, has put his eyes on De Niro. While Nicole Kidman keeps choosing dad, Penn spares his time with a new lover, a club singer played by Demi Moore, and tries to put an end to DiCaprio’s ambition. Penn and DiCaprio become rivals. And things go too far. Without De Niro knowing it, DiCaprio orders a hitman to kill Penn but in fact it is his wife, Robin Wright, the one that is killed by accident. As revenge, Penn kills DiCaprio and keeps the suspect that it was De Niro who gave him the order to kill him. The sequel become the Top 1 box office with old HM’s v18 version for CMP. It won the GMA for Best Cast and Demi Moore was nominee as Best Supporting Actress. A master piece.

THE HEIRS – PART 3 (awaiting release): Scorsese decided to take a rest before shooting the finale episode of the saga. In the meantime, he produced ‘The Toymaker’ for his friend, director Francis Ford Coppola. Now, he can win the award for Best Picture with it as producer. This third episode adds Charlize Theron to the cast and it is said to be more a drama than an action movie. It is expected that audiences will respond as loyal as always to the proposal.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

SOUTH EAST: Don Cheadle joins the cast as the main villain in his first work for CMP. And director Neil Jordan is still looking for the right actress to substitute Keira Knightley, as she refused to be in the movie. It is being hard to find a replacement and it may cause some delays in the production.

STAR WARS: MYSTERIES OF THE SITH: Here it is. Green light for the sequel of CMP’s major blockbuster ever. George Lucas returns as producer. And new director and stars involved will be announced soon.

THE LIBRARY: Michael Clarke Duncan was an unlucky guy with CMP. First, he was going to star ‘The Passion Beneath’ together with Julia Roberts, but the Studio replaced him for Jamie Foxx. Then, he was going to be in ‘The Greatest Show On earth’, and he was finally substituted by Ving Rhames. But finally he’ll make his debut in a CMP’s movie in this epic drama being directed by Anthony Minghella.

DAKOTA NORTH: It wasn’t easy, but producer Brad Pitt has finally convinced Clint Eastwood to direct his wife’s western. Now, Pitt has given Eastwood freedom to choose the rest of the talents that will surround Jolie.

THE LAW: Finally, Sienna Miller is out of this project. Christopher Nolan has chosen Eva Mendes (‘Deep Silence’) to play the cop partner of Brad Pitt. So now, the complete cast includes Pitt, Pacino, Mendes and Andy Garcia in this expected sequel of ‘Hot Iron’.

CASUAL DAY: Last addition to this cast. Richard Dreyfuss will play a police inspector trying to put in jail both Matthew Perry and Eva Longoria. Dreyfuss will meet again with Tommy Lee Jones, after they worked together in the flopped ‘The Tempting Diamond’.

PIECE OF MY HEART: Cast completed. Jamie Foxx (‘Indigo Prophecy’, ‘The Passion Beneath’) and the recent GMA nominee for Best Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr. (‘Hot Iron’, ‘Home’) join Drew Barrymore, Jack Nicholson and Mark Ruffalo in the musical. Luhrmann has said that Foxx will play a free version of Bob Marley while Downey will do the same with Bob Dylan. Yes, it all sounds so weird…

VISIONARIES: Bryan Singer presented his new project in a crowded press conference. He explained that his new movie is based on the action figures’ toyline created by Hasbro. The story takes place in an imaginary universe of magic and knights. More about it can be learnt at www.prysmos.com. And no talent has been confirmed yet for the movie.

LONDON UNDERGROUND: The first talent to be terrorized by a serial killer in the London underground will be Liv Tyler, in her debut for CMP. The funny thing is that, although most of the story takes place in the London underground’s tunnels, the shootage will take place completely in CMP’s Studios in California.

THE COMPANY: A religious organization known as ‘The Company’ controls the world. That’s the premise of the new project written by Matt Kubrick that will direct Oliver Stone. The couple worked together before in ‘Home’. This time, the story may become controversial, as that big religious corporation looks a lot like… the Vatican.

COMING SOON – THE ADD


RUMOURS AND GOSSIPS

New screenwriter joining CMP. Bill Cougan will debut as screenwriter with two very similar concepts. He is the author of the movie adaptations of two classic 70’s tv series: ‘McMillan and wife’ and ‘Get Christie Love!’. Harrison Ford or Pierce Brosnan will play McMillan, while Halle Berry is confirmed to play Christie Love. Whitney Houston was said to make the movie version of Christie Love for years, but that project was never confirmed. Both movies will be produced in Season 5.

Will Peter Jackson and CMP sign a peace treaty? After the legendary flop of ‘Tales Of The Jedi’, it seems like the prestigious director could return home to direct the movie version of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ that has written Marcus Trax. At least, Jackson has shown his interest in it, but Harry Stark still has to forgive him for making him lose a huge amount of money with his previous flop.

A peculiar team: GMA winner James Bradley has written a new screenplay that could be directed by Woody Allen. Satire and romance are the main elements of a story that can be greenlighted during this running season. Bradley is also the author of the first CMP’s musical, ‘Piece Of My Heart’ and has been nominated again for Best Screenplay with ‘The Toymaker’.

Another musical: Harry Stark has asked Ted Froats to rewrite some parts of the screenplay of ‘Carousel’ before greenlightning it. It seems like the first draft had a too complicated plot that should be simplified.

GMA NOMINATIONS SPECIAL
By special guest writer Anne Roman

So here they are again. Golden Moon Awards reach their third edition. 14 movies will compete for the 12 statues and, as usual, nominations have left some surprises, some deceptions and some predictable candidates. Lets take a look at the most remarkable consequences:

The Ignored – Movies:

Comedies out of sight. Usually, awards do not remember comedies. It always seem that making cry is harder than making laugh. An unfair statement. Comedies like ‘LOL’, ‘Contract Killing for Dummies’ or even the flopped ‘Styx and Stones’ deserved to be remember in this edition.

‘Dr. Jones and the Sword Of Faith’, the prequel to Indiana Jones movies, didn’t got votes enough to be in any category. Voters preferred the villain played by Daniel Craig in ‘Star Wars’ instead of the one he played in ‘Dr. Jones’. In my opinion, the movie deserved more attention.

‘The Greatest Show On Earth’, my personal favourite movie of the season, only got 1 nomination (go Hanks!), and its wonderful cast, screenplay and Robin Williams’ work as supporting actor were unfairly forgotten. Well, the show must go on…

‘The Little Sister’, the brilliant tribute to film noirs directed by Jack Hammer and starred and produced by George Clooney didn’t make it at the awards, although it had everything to deserve quite a few nominations.

The Ignored 2 – Talents

Steven Spielberg did not deserve a nomination as Best Director? Come on… He made a great job in both ‘Dr. Jones’ and ‘Star Wars’ and even this one has been nominated for Best Picture, but it seems like action and adventure movies are also the poor relatives in awards ceremonies. Unfair, again unfair…

‘The Toymaker’ has offered the chance to be nominated to part of its cast. Winslet, Malkovich, DeNiro… but, hey, what about Dustin Hoffman? Did Colin Farrell really made a better performance shooting up people in ‘Hitman 2’ than Hoffman’s brilliant composure of the modest, nice and brave toymaker? Or John Travolta, playing a walrus looking character and a crazy politician in ‘Wild Cards 2’? Oh, please… Who vote for these awards? Teenagers?

Ok, it was just another war movie… But Matt Kubrick did a really creative job with his three hours war drama in ‘Home’. He was nominated for Best Director for ‘Wild Cards’, but now that he has really made a brilliant directing job, where is his more than deserved nomination for Best Director?

The Returns

Yes, it’s the 3rd edition and some talents are becoming regulars in these awards:

Mr. Kubrick gets his third nomination. Last edition, he was nominee for Best Screenplay and Director. This time, he will compete only in the Screenplay category trying to win his first award.

Past edition Best Screenplay’s winner, James Bradley, returns as nominee in the same category. Second option before his new and surprising project, the musical ‘Piece Of My Heart’, is released.

And what about the versatility of Tom Hanks? First edition, nominated for Best Starring Couple (‘Court Appeal’, together with Julia Roberts). Second edition, going for Best Actor (‘September’s Gone’). This time, fighting for Best Director (yes, go Hanks!). Will he ever make it for best supporting actress or something?

Peter Weir is back too. He couldn’t win Best Director with ‘Cathedral’, but the amazing success of ‘Darkening Skies’ makes him a more than clear favourite this time (go Hanks?).

And, of course, she had to be here. Keira Knightley, the beloved muse of CMP’s screenwriters, was nominated for Best Starring Couple together with Pierce Brosnan in the past edition. Now, she might win Best Actress (just because she died on style in the movie?).

The Favourites

Hard to say. ‘Home’ is the more nominated movie. But that doesn’t mean a thing, as past edition most nominated movies didn’t were always the most awarded at the end. Votes change a lot from nominations to winners (you know it, Scarlett), so anything can be expected. But it seems that any of the movies will beat the landmark of 3 awards. And yes, my bet goes for Colin and Keira as the couple of the night, which will prove again that awards do not always reward quality…

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR THE WINNERS BEFORE NEXT SATURDAY